For Immediate Release
S.T.O.P. ‘Day Of Action’ Highlights Biased NYPD License Plate Ticketing
The day of action accompanies the launch of “Obstructed Justice,” a new S.T.O.P. report on biased NYPD license plate ticketing of Black drivers.
(New York, NY, 02/16/23) - Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy and civil rights group, launched a day of action to highlight biased NYPD enforcement of obstructed license plate laws, issuing mock “community tickets” to officers with obstructed plates. The day of action accompanies S.T.O.P.’s release of Obstructed Justice: NYC’s Biased License Plate Enforcement, a report detailing how the NYPD targets Black and BIPOC drivers when enforcing obstructed license plate laws. S.T.O.P.’s protesters logged NYPD employees’ cars with obstructed or missing license plates outside of 1 Police Plaza, finding half a dozen violations within ten minutes of the action. The civil rights group will send complaints to NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell and the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD.
SEE: Report - Obstructed Justice: NYC’s Biased License Plate Enforcement
https://www.stopspying.org/obstructed-justice
S.T.O.P. - Day of Action Photos and Videos For Download
https://web.tresorit.com/l/ZWGyp#QSknGnl2LL9cP1fKsmne7A
S.T.O.P. - Mock Obstructed License Plate Tickets
https://web.tresorit.com/l/lYH4n#fEBOhsWQXjsG5h7WeyjWzg
“If cities insist on increasing enforcement of minor violations, they must proactively ensure that overpolicing of Black and BIPOC communities doesn’t follow,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Research Director Eleni Manis. “In NYC, the NYPD started enforcing obstructed plates, and drivers in precincts with the biggest Black and BIPOC majorities paid the price disproportionately. The city needs to anticipate downstream effects of its traffic cameras and adjust policing policies so that cameras reduce police stops instead of increasing them.”
“When American police kill a Black driver on average every day, we know this sort of discrimination can be deadly,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “We need to put an end to the car surveillance myth, that redlight and speed cameras magically stop discrimination. Instead, the move to a car camera culture is putting Black drivers at risk of more stops as white drivers cover up their plates with general impunity. When we use license plate readers for everything from collecting tolls to monitoring noise levels, we’re pushing more and more people to use fake plates. And while NYPD officers do this themselves to get out of paying tolls, Black drivers find themselves once again targeted and put at risk.”
Report Key Findings Include:
- Summonses for obstructed plates have more than quadrupled from 2016 to 2021, correlating with the increase in New York’s automated license plate readers;
- Police and city employees frequently obstruct their license plates with impunity;
- NYPD Summons data shows officers stopped drivers in BIPOC precincts 35% more often than drivers in majority-white precincts;
- The NYPD’s racial enforcement gap more than doubled between 2016 and 2021.
Last fall, S.T.O.P. released Wiretaps on Wheels: The Acceleration of Automotive Surveillance, a report detailing how new cars collect enormous amounts of passenger data, sending it to carmakers and police. The civil rights group has made previous calls to ban automated license plate readers, on grounds that law enforcement agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement use license plate data to track vehicles belonging to immigrants.
SEE: Wiretaps on Wheels
https://www.stopspying.org/wiretaps-on-wheels
WNYC – Albert Fox Cahn ALPR Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPxqMX6MbDQ
S.T.O.P. Blog - Automated License Plate Readers & Law Enforcement
https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2019/7/5/automated-license-plate-readers-amp-law-enforcement
The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color.
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CONTACT: S.T.O.P. Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn
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