Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, Inc.

-against-

NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT

Status: Filed

Key issues: Police Practices, Open Records, Facial Recognition, Privacy, Bias

Court: Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County

Docket:

Counsel: S.T.O.P. / Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP

S.T.O.P. and our co-counsel are pursuing litigation under New York’s Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL") to compel the NYPD to produce documents relating to the accuracy and bias of NYPD’s use of facial recognition, due to the technology’s well documented racial, gender, and age-based discrimination.

S.T.O.P. originally requested the NYPD records on November 25, 2020, seeking copies of any and all relevant records from January 1, 2005 to November 23, 2020. The NYPD denied S.T.O.P.’s FOIL request on January 29, 2021, claiming without explanation that it was “unable to locate records responsive to your [S.T.O.P.’s] based on the information [we] provided.”

The NYPD denied S.T.O.P.’s administrative appeal for records on facial recognition bias on March 10, 2021, again stating they do not possess such records. S.T.O.P. and our co-counsel filed our petition in New York State Supreme Court on July 8th, 2021. Litigation is ongoing.