Smart City technology to hit Yuma

Smart City technology voted on by the City of Yuma City Council in 2018 is leaving many residents questioning its purpose.

Nodules on top of the light posts are already testing sites in motion around the city. The testing sites are not recording, but are testing the connection.

The City said they will not be spying on residents.
“It would be illogical in terms of manpower to monitor those cameras, every one of them on a regular basis. Really we’re taking this as something requiring an incident before the data really even exists to us,” said Dave Nash, City of Yuma.

The technology is being implemented because the City of Yuma was looking for a way to cut costs when lighting the city at night. AnyCOMM Corporation the asked Yuma to be the hot weather test city for their company.

They said there are specific lights and noises that will set the cameras off.

“There has to be an event, maybe a 911 call, maybe the camera system with the microphone that’s turned to detect certain sounds, detects a gunshot. Those are kinds of things that would spawn a police investigation. Police can then request the data from certain cameras be downloaded, then it would turn over and be police evidence just like police evidence would be now,” explained Nash.

The city added that the technology will make the city safer, but the hundreds of nodules to be installed are currently on hold.

“Right now the nodules being manufactured are being held up in tariff wars between the [Trump] Administration and China,” said Nash.