The legislation would enable $15 million in state surveillance funding to flow to a local nonprofit — a controversial move that could stymie accountability over the use of such surveillance technology.

This type of funding mechanism has become something of a national trend that police agencies are using to grow their access to surveillance tools: route those technologies through private entities like nonprofits that operate beyond democratic control, essentially outsourcing surveillance and policing.

Prominently, the Atlanta Police Foundation funded and built the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, colloquially known as Cop City, for the Atlanta Police Department; the 501(c)(3) is also the official partner contracting with Flock Safety and providing the city use of the company’s notorious surveillance cameras.

In New Orleans, Project NOLA, a 501(c)(3), has built a large apparatus of more than 200 cameras through donations. News broke earlier this year that the nonprofit was conducting real time facial recognition scans and sending alerts to the New Orleans Police Department, a clear violation of city policy that went unchecked until reporting by The Washington Post revealed the arrangement.

Now, with this pending resolution, Nashville is following the lead of Atlanta, New Orleans, and other cities by leveraging a local nonprofit to build a powerful surveillance infrastructure. Nashville’s version follows the same playbook, but with a local twist that makes it particularly brazen.