It’s Time To Send the NYPD’s Digidog To The Pound

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Sometimes the NYPD can seem like a dog chasing its own tail, and that’s never been more true than with the mangled rollout of its dystopian Digidog, the creepy four-legged surveillance platform that first faced global condemnation when it was videotaped walking into NYC public housing back in 2021. But recent days brought revelations that the robotic Cujo isn’t just a bad idea…it’s also illegal.

That’s what we found out thanks to our fiends at the Legal Aid Society, who demanded an independent investigation of Digidog’s violation of the Police Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act.

If the NYPD followed the laws they were supposed to uphold, the Digidog saga would have looked very different. When Mayor Adams announced the NYPD would buy the RoboPup earlier this year, it was the first the public knew of the plan. But that’s exactly the sort of behavior the POST Act outlaws. Under the POST Act the NYPD must tell the public about new surveillance tools and get feedback before spending our tax dollars. But when Mayor Adams brought Digidog into Times Square for its announcement, the contract was already a done deal.

New Yorkers never had our chance to tell the NYPD what we think of spending money on even more surveillance at a moment when so many essential services are facing the threat of cuts. But we can still have our say, joining Legal Aid in demanding an investigation and telling Mayor Adams it’s time to send Digidog to the pound.

In Solidarity,

Cyra Paladini
Communications Intern

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Newslettercommunications staffJune 27, 2023