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Harvard has installed 30 new surveillance cameras in the Harvard Yard as part of a long-planned upgrade to existing security measures aimed at deterring theft and increasing campus safety.

Installation of the new cameras, which focus on gates to the Yard, the John Harvard statue, and “large open green spaces,” comes on the back of heightened concerns over immigration enforcement on campus. But Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson James M. Chisholm stressed that the cameras were not “connected to ICE or law enforcement.”

The University began to purchase new cameras in February 2024 and finished installing them last month, bringing the number of cameras in the Yard up to 41. There are currently more than 800 cameras across the FAS campus, Chisholm confirmed in an email.

The cameras are continuously recording, but do not provide live monitoring. All access to video footage is regulated by a University policy established in 2016 – which restricts review of footage to specific purposes that serve “legitimate institutional purpose.”

The policy instructs each school to “establish a procedure for implementing access to video camera data” on a case-by-case basis. Access to the footage is “limited to those personnel with a reasonable need for such access in the particular case,” according to the 2016 policy.

Footage can be used for criminal investigations or threatened lawsuits against the University, but cannot be accessed for administrative purposes. The cameras do not record audio or use facial recognition software.

University policy also restricts who can access the cameras outside of Harvard.

“Recorded data may be provided to a non-Harvard party if the purpose of the request is not contrary to provisions of this policy or the School or unit policy,” the policy reads.

But outside parties are not allowed to openly search video data. Instead, they will receive a copy of the video segment that they requested.

Chisholm, the FAS spokesperson, wrote that camera installations have been a part of a larger long-term effort to increase security around the Yard for “local concerns” like theft.

In addition to the cameras, Harvard has instituted “enhanced security measures” around the Yard — including upgrading emergency “blue light” phones, reducing gates that are open overnight, and installing more lighting.

—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.