City Council gave unanimous, final approval yesterday to new rules on the use of a growing network of public safety surveillance cameras.

The passage is a step toward the city's planned $3.45 million investment in the technological backbone and first phase of deployment of an eventual widespread camera system, starting in port areas.

Council Public Safety Chairman Bruce Kraus praised the policy, which Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration crafted at the insistence of Councilman William Peduto, as balancing security and privacy.

The draft 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. Other changes require that community groups with city-funded camera systems be trained by the city and abide by its policies; expand a panel that rules on neighborhood requests to place or remove cameras; and set the amount of time footage is stored at 10 days.

Talk turned to where cameras should go first. "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 starting points.

Proposals from vendors that would build the system are due Aug. 22.