The NYPD's domain awareness system draws on more than 80,000 cameras, drones, license plate readers and facial recognition, searchable without a warrant, Planet Money reports.
Scott Stringer found a 2007 memo let the NYPD classify tech purchases as special expenses that avoided council and public scrutiny.
Legal Aid sued for old NYPD contracts, and the department has turned over only about 600 of 165,000 pages so far.
New York built a vast surveillance net largely out of public view
New York built one of the largest surveillance systems in the country step by step, starting as post-9/11 counterterrorism and growing into everyday policing. Purchases were kept from the council and the public, so almost no one tested whether the tools were legal or effective. Lawyers and officials are now prying out the records as AI makes the footage easier to search.
Takeaways
NYPD's search engine spans 80,000 cameras, no warrant. The domain awareness system draws on more than 80,000 cameras, plus drones, automated license plate readers and facial recognition. Police can merge many feeds into one edit in minutes, work that once took days. Officers can pull up a person's profile during a stop.
Post-9/11 counterterrorism money built the surveillance apparatus. After the federal government failed to warn the city, the NYPD became a counterterrorism force with billions in federal resources. Former captain Joe Pascarella calls cameras a double bang for your buck, since terror cameras also catch local crime.
Evidence that cameras cut crime is mixed. A meta analysis of forty years of studies found cameras reduce car theft, but it is unclear that more cameras mean less crime. The NYPD, through spokesperson Bradley Weeks, says the system has made New Yorkers safer.
Secret purchasing rules kept the tools from scrutiny. A 2007 memo of understanding let the NYPD classify tech purchases as special expenses, avoiding council and public scrutiny. Scott Stringer says a powerful department needs independent checks. He ended the arrangement after the 2020 POST Act passed.
Contract disclosure is slow and buried in paper. Legal Aid sued for the old contracts, which the NYPD says fill 165,000 pages in 22 filing cabinet drawers. About 600 pages are out, including a 45m dollar camera contract and an 11.5m dollar biometric one.
Pascarella wants bright line rules as AI arrives. Pascarella argues surveillance needs bright line rules like Miranda, and it has none now. Host Amanda Aronczyk adds that AI makes it far easier to search hours of footage for unusual behavior, so the stakes are rising.
How the system was built
2005. The NYPD launches a real time crime center that runs around the clock.
2008. The Lower Manhattan Security Initiative starts, and businesses such as the New York Stock Exchange and Goldman Sachs share video feeds.
Microsoft helps build a centralized platform over about four years.
2012. Mayor Michael Bloomberg launches the domain awareness system.
Deputy commissioner Jessica Tisch cites 2bn license plate reads and 9,000 cameras, with more than 10,000 officers using its analytics daily.
Tap a name to go there · tap a line to see why they are linked