NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A newly passed bill that will require the NYPD to reveal information about its surveillance technology could put undercover officers in grave or fatal danger, a veteran detective who worked as an undercover officer for years told 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa.
The City Council on Thursday approved a package of police reform legislation that included the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act, which would require the NYPD to disclose information on the surveillance tolls it uses, including their "description and capabilities," the bill's summary says.
In an interview with Papa, however, a detective investigator who worked as an undercover officer for 15 years — and currently trains new undercover officers — said the POST Act could put undercover officers in "jeopardy."
"As an undercover, we go out there and we don't have anything to identify us as being a police officer," NYPD Detective Taquana Brightharp told Papa. "All I have is me, my partner, and one piece of equipment. A piece of equipment that saved my life plenty of times."
Working as an undercover officer often meant making undercover drug and gun buys, Brightharp said.
That involved entering a potentially dangerous location with a hidden piece of communication equipment that allowed a field team to hear what she was saying — and come to her rescue if she signaled that she was in danger, she said.
"If a drug dealer knew that I went in with a particular type of equipment, that's what they'd be looking for," she said. "And if they find it, what do I have for somebody to come and save my life?"
Brightharp said she supports releasing information on some surveillance equipment — including facial recognition technology and licence plate tracking devices — but maintained releasing information on undercover equipment would undermine the work of undercover officers.
"We're out here trying to protect the citizens of New York. We're trying to make the streets cleaner; we're trying to make the streets safer," she said. "And what we have as our safety net is just this equipment. It's just one piece of equipment that makes a difference between, maybe, me living today or me dying."
"So if they divulge this information, they put it on the internet, they put it on Facebook, they put it on all these different outlets… that puts them all in jeopardy," she went on to say.
"The people that we're trying to… protect our citizens from are the ones that are going to go and Google it," she added. "They're going to get all the information… and it's going to work against us, and it's going to hurt us."
In a statement released Thursday, the NYPD backed up Brightharp's assertions.
"The City Council can fix the POST Act with one simple sentence. Give the police commissioner the authority to report all the technology we use, how we use it, and what the rules are, which is what the law was intended for, but also give the commissioner the ability to exclude descriptions of the technology used by our undercover officers in the field whose jobs are already very dangerous," the statement read.
"Why would we ever legislate a way to make their work more dangerous?" the statement added.
Supporters of the POST Act have said the surveillance practices it addresses have threatened New Yorkers' privacy for years.
In a letter sent to City Council Speaker Corey Johnson last year, 70 different groups — including the Legal Aid Society of New York City, the ACLU and the New York Immigration Coalition — said the NYPD's surveillance tools "pose a particularly potent threat to our immigrant communities and New Yorkers of color."
"Unchecked, the growing use of surveillance technology threatens to obscure and automate racial inequalities under the guise of unbiased computer systems," the groups wrote. "And too often, these systems create a risk of information sharing with federal agencies, including Immigrations and Customs Enforcement."
"The POST Act addresses the long-unmet need for civilian oversight of NYPD surveillance practices," they added. "The NYPD can continue using these tools by complying with limited protections against waste, discrimination, and misuse."
While the POST Act has passed through the City Council, it still needs Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature to take effect.
During his daily briefing on Friday, de Blasio said he intends to sign it.
"I have gone over the language in that bill very carefully with the lawyers at City Hall," he said. "We are absolutely convinced that the legislation leaves room for protecting the lives of our officers, which is absolutely sacred, for ensuring we can fight terrorism, for ensuring we can fight gang violence."
