NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Technology watchdogs say the NYPD is flouting a law requiring it to explain each surveillance contract, including the domain awareness system that collects tens of thousands of camera feeds from around the city.
"The NYPD is controlling the information that we have access to, and there are significant redactions on some of them, including the name of the company and the technologies being used," said Legal Aid attorney Jeffrey Greco, who specializes in technology issues.
Greco said that this should concern every New Yorker.
"Considering the NYPD's history of having very little accountability and very little transparency," he added.
The report by the Surveillance Oversight Project, known as STOP, and Legal Aid found the department spent roughly $3 billion over the past 12 years on surveillance technology, but is defying the 2020 law.
Greco claimed that there is no way to hold the NYPD responsible or to learn how the technology is being used.
"Every time that they get a new technology approved or a standard technology, they say, 'Oh, this is to prevent crime, this is to do this, this is to do XYZ,'" he said. "Well, has it? How many more cameras do you need for there to be no more crime?"
An NYPD spokesperson called the concerns "baseless," pointing to a police inspector general report released this month that found the department “has complied with the POST Act’s requirements to produce and publish impact- and use-policies for each of the technologies utilized.”
Still, that report found the NYPD could be more transparent, including by being more specific about the policy for each technology, according to the Daily News.
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