Summary
In this report, S.T.O.P. and Hogan Lovells, LLP detail the growth and effectiveness of local surveillance laws. As of January 2021, at least 25 United States localities passed limits on or oversight for law enforcement surveillance. As of February 10, 2020, 15 jurisdictions enacted Community Control of Police Surveillance (CCOPS ) ordinances, requiring additional transparency for surveillance purchases and use. While these ordinances are new, early compliance efforts appear to offer increasing public insight into and municipal control over technologies that many citizens are unaware are being used in their communities, many of which are shown to disproportionately impact communities of color. These new technologies—such as facial recognition software, drones, predictive policing software, and cellphone tracking—are often acquired and used without community input or notice and can be difficult to uncover even through public record requests. CCOPS laws often require annual use reporting, public disclosure of use policy, and occasionally private right of action and evidentiary exclusion, but many of these requirements have yet to fully take effect. While CCOPS ordinances have shown significant impact in many cities, New York City is a significant outlier. Not only does the city have one of the weakest CCOPS laws, but the NYPD has also systematically attempted to evade the law to date. Learn more about NYPD compliance with CCOPS requirements here.
This work is made possible by the generous support of our partners at the Calyx Institute.
