NYC’s Post-Election Policing Limbo

*|MC:SUBJECT|*

Friend,

For months, the pressure mounted, tens of millions were spent, all building to one of the most high-stakes elections in New York City history. And now that it’s over…we wait.

This is the reality of ranked-choice voting in New York City, where we won’t learn the nominees (and likely winners) for Mayor, Comptroller, and City Council for weeks. But as we wait, we’re building our own effort, preparing to launch a city-wide campaign to educate new lawmakers about the surveillance tools targeted at New Yorkers every day.

And the timing couldn’t be more critical. As many leading candidates respond to the country’s rising murder rate with talk of “intelligence-driven policing” and other surveillance euphemisms, it’s more important than ever to explain the real impact of these technologies.

The somber truth is that we can’t afford to waste millions of dollars on high-tech racial profiling tools like facial recognition, directional microphones, and sprawling databases. Even more importantly, we can’t afford to use new technologies to reproduce the harms of long-discredited programs like stop and frisk. Surveillance technology promises easy answers, but the truth is we have hard choices to make about the future of our city. But working with you we know we’ll be able to find the path to a safer, more just New York.

With thanks,
Albert Fox Cahn, Esq.
Executive Director

P.S. – Join us tomorrow night for S.T.O.P. x RadTech: Combating the Digital Divide with Privacy-Preserving Public Broadband, where we’ll discuss the movement for safe, accessible internet infrastructure.

Check Out Our Events

Our Team

Forward

NewsletterWilliam OwenJune 23, 2021