Pittsburgh City Council gave unanimous, final approval today to a policy that governs the use of a growing network of public safety surveillance cameras.

Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Bruce Kraus praised the policy, which the administration crafted at the insistence of Councilman William Peduto, as a sensitive balance between safety and privacy concerns.

The original policy was amended by council to require that police have probable cause that a person has committed a crime before they program the system to flag footage of that person. Under the draft policy, an individual could be tracked according to secret police policies.

"There was some concern about policies and procedures and the fact that police policies are not public," said Mr. Kraus.

Other changes include requirements that community groups with city-funded camera systems get training from the city and abide by its policies; expansion of a panel that rules on neighborhood requests to place or remove cameras; and an increase in the amount of time footage is stored from seven to 10 days.

The passage of the policy is another step toward the city's anticipated $3.45 million investment in the technological backbone and first phase of deployment of an eventual widespread camera system, starting in port areas. Proposals for vendors that would build the system are due Aug. 22.

"I think we want to put [cameras] where we see the majority of crimes taking place," said Councilwoman Tonya Payne, citing the North Side, Hill District, Homewood, Garfield and East Liberty as neighborhoods in need of the system. "Hopefully, a real analysis will be done before we start implementing and throwing cameras up."