Have you noticed the clusters of two or three black surveillance cameras popping up on street corners in Glover Park? They are located up high on the electric poles at various points of Tunlaw Road, Fulton Street, 39th Street, Calvert Street and New Mexico Avenue. Advisory Neighborhood Commission officials inquired about the source of these cameras and DC officials denied it was a city project, instead claiming that the State Department ordered the installations at the request of the Russian embassy located between Wisconsin Ave and Tunlaw Rd. In fact, DC Metro Police Department did assist with the installation though they maintain no official crime surveillance cameras anywhere near Glover Park, and has stated that "arbitrary or discriminatory tracking of individuals is expressly prohibited by policy and regulation, and could result in disciplinary action."
Oddly, some of the cameras are way out of range of the embassy, up to a half mile away. Back in October, Cliff Seagroves, acting Deputy Director of the Office of Foreign Missions at the State Department, briefed the ANC on the security negotiations with the Russian embassy and the camera installations after the ANC inquired. The ANC initially voiced the possibility of protest, but does not seem willing to pursue it at this time. It is unclear which organizations monitor the data feeds and whether DC MPD will be able to obtain the footage as part of an investigation or other request, though DC MPD claims that Russia does not have access to it.