ARIC’s transparency impresses

Greg Foster, the community advocate to the Austin Regional Intelligence Center, told Public Safety Commissioners on Monday that the fusion center’s steps toward increased transparency have impressed him. ARIC aims to “maximize the ability to detect, prevent, apprehend, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity” via shared gathering intelligence between partner organizations, according to the Austin Police Department website. Foster said ARIC now posts the minutes online from ARIC Privacy Policy Advisory Committee meetings, and that the fusion center responds to open records requests in a timely fashion. “I’ll give credit where credit is due,” he said. Activists have targeted ARIC and other fusion centers for potentially infringing on civil liberties. No civil liberty activists spoke out against ARIC at Monday’s meeting, which Public Safety Commission Chair Kim Rossmo said he “found amazing.”