For Immediate Release
S.T.O.P. Welcomes OIG Report On NYPD Violations of Surveillance Transparency Law In Drone Usage
The Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD detailed the department’s failure to comply with the landmark POST Act in its use of unmanned aircraft systems.
(New York, NY, 12/18/24) – Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy group, welcomes a report from the Department of Investigation’s Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD, detailing the NYPD’s failure to fully comply with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act in its escalating use of drones. Enacted in 2020, the POST Act is the first New York City surveillance law since 9/11, and it required the Department to detail every technology it uses and how NYPD data is shared. The report urged the NYPD to give both the OIG and the public greater information about how New Yorkers are surveilled through unmanned aircraft systems.
SEE: Report - An Assessment of NYPD's Compliance with the POST Act
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doi/reports/pdf/2024/49PostActRelease.Rpt.12.18.2024.pdf
“Year after year, the NYPD continues to break the law, ignoring the POST Act and hiding details about what surveillance tech it buys and how it uses it,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “Once again, the OIG is clear that the NYPD is hiding crucial data, and its spiraling use of drones isn't going to fly. The POST Act was a win when it was passed, unearthing billions in once-hidden NYPD contracts, but much more is needed to comply going forward. When Mayor Adams lets the NYPD break the POST Act and ignore these fundamental transparency requirements, it not only hides crucial data from the public, it undermines civilian oversight and rule of law.”
Key Findings Include:
- NYPD has escalated its use of drones since 2019, with privacy advocates raising concern over its “drones as first responders” program and disproportionate drone deployment in predominantly Black neighborhoods;
- NYPD’s Impact and Use Policy (IUP) reporting for drone operations fail to disclose all information required by the POST Act;
- NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) is required to operate and supervise all drone deployments, but multiple other NYPD units have operated their own drone programs without TARU involvement, including the Transit Bureau, Highway Unit Collision Technician Group, Emergency Services Unit, Counterterrorism Division, and Office of the Chief of Department;
- The Commanding Officer for the newly formed Drone Team does not report directly to the Chief of Department as required by the drone IUP;
- NYPD fails to disclose all the technological capabilities of its drones, such as two- and three-dimensional mapping technologies and two-way communication capabilities;
- NYPD fails to disclose potential health and safety risks of drones.
In May, S.T.O.P. welcomed the OIG’s second report detailing NYPD’s failure to comply with the POST Act. Last year, the civil rights group joined elected officials and fellow civil rights groups in rallying against the NYPD’s repeated violations of the POST Act. The rally took place ahead of a hearing held by the New York City Council’s Committees on Technology and Public Safety to discuss the POST Act, where advocates highlighted the department’s systematic violation of the landmark surveillance oversight law in the three years since its passage.
SEE: Press Release - S.T.O.P. Welcomes OIG Report On NYPD Violations of Surveillance Transparency Law
https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2024/5/30/stop-welcomes-oig-report-on-nypd-violations-of-surveillance-transparency-law
Press Release - Electeds, Advocates Rally Against NYPD Surveillance Violations Before City Council Hearing
https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2023/12/15/electeds-advocates-rally-against-nypd-surveillance-violations-before-city-council-hearing
In 2021, the civil rights group issued its own report on the NYPD’s POST Act failures, highlighting many of the same problems found by the OIG. The report found that other police departments routinely comply with surveillance laws that are far more stringent than what is imposed by the POST Act.
SEE: Report - Above The Law?
https://www.stopspying.org/above-the-law
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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