Is the City of Nashua Recording (Audio) of The Public Without Their Knowledge? - Granite Grok

Is the City of Nashua Recording (Audio) of The Public Without Their Knowledge?

Old school audio surveillence

In the world we live in, video recording in public areas is expected. Amidst all the controversy in the Nashua Assessing Office, management recently decided to video customers in the public service area. Alderwoman Schmidt believes we are recording conversations; Is Nashua engaging in illegal activity?

What prompted cameras to be installed?

I submitted an investigative report (to the city)  that showed an assessor was not performing his duties. He was signing out on the office whiteboard indicating he was visiting property when, in fact, he was driving around aimlessly, sleeping in several parking lots. Within weeks of the release of my report, management removed the whiteboard from the office and the very next day mounted a video camera to watch the residents.

This video camera monitored staff assisting residents, who were requesting public information. The staff member, who just received a $96K settlement for wrongful termination, was disciplined for helping me with a Right-To-Know request – a disgraceful abuse of governmental power.

It appears based on statements made by city officials and aldermen that Nashua may have been audio recording the public and staff in that public assessing area.

I requested under Right-To-Know a copy of the video, specific date, and time given. I subsequently request two more videos that involved employee interaction with me. The September Right-To-Know requests were finally denied in December by the City legal department. The City cited five reasons for the denial; four under RSA 91-A;5 and the MURRAY exemption. This will be challenged in an RTK lawsuit.

In a recent Facebook post, Alderwoman Jan Schmidt wrote, “She demanded video of the department! A department that is open to the public, where people talk about their taxes, personal information, private stuff!”

That “sounds” like these videos contain audio recordings.

Would it be right for the public to hear this? The answer is no. Big Brother watching us is legal; Big Brother listening to us in not.

The question (is the video camera making audio records) was asked of the City’s legal department; the city of Nashua will not respond.

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