Story at a glance
- Researchers at Amnesty International mapped out approximately 25,500 CCTV surveillance cameras in New York City.
- Within those cameras, they found at least 22,000 cases from 2016 to 2019 that used facial recognition technology.
- Amnesty International argues facial recognition technology is being used like a “digital stop-and-frisk.”
Cameras are lurking in America’s most populous city — deploying facial recognition technology that can follow unsuspecting residents as they move about their day — and a new project from Amnesty International claims it’s a pervasive practice.
Amnesty International worked with the Decode Surveillance NYC project to collect and analyze crowdsourced data by thousands of New York City volunteers, mapping more than 25,500 CCTV surveillance cameras across New York City. At the same time, Amnesty International worked with data scientists to compare the collected data with statistics on police stop-and-frisk and demographic data.
Their results, published Tuesday, showed that the New York Police Department (NYPD) used facial recognition technology (FRT) in at least 22,000 cases from 2016 to 2019, while data on incidents of stop-and-frisk by NYPD since 2002 showed Black and Latinx communities were overwhelmingly targeted.
Stop-and-frisk practices have been hotly debated across the country, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) describes a police frisk when an officer pats or sweeps the outside of someone’s clothes to check if they have weapons. It is considered a lawful “frisk” regardless of consent so long as the officer has “reasonable suspicion” that a person has a weapon.
ACLU previously released a Stop-and-Frisk in the de Blasio Era report which found young Black and Latino males between the ages of 14 and 24 accounted for only 5 percent of the city’s population but were 38 percent of the NYPD’s reported stops, even though “young Black and Latino males were innocent 80 percent of the time.”
Notably, ACLU also found that 66 percent of the reported stops led to frisks, and in 93 percent of cases, no weapon was reported as being found.
America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
However, John Miller, NYPD deputy commissioner, told Changing America in an emailed statement that stop-and-frisk incidents are “based on descriptions of people given by crime victims who are most often members of the community where the stop is made.”
Miller said that stops based on observations by police are a major contributor, as gun arrests are currently at the highest levels in 25 years, homicides are up by half and shootings have also doubled. He also explained that victims of violent crime in New York City are, “overwhelmingly persons of color.”
However, Amnesty International is attempting to connect the use of CCTV surveillance cameras to the use of FRT in New York City, finding that in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens boroughs, the higher the proportion of non-white residents, the higher the concentration of FRT compatible CCTV surveillance cameras.
“The pervasive use of facial recognition technology is effectively a digital stop-and-frisk. The use of mass surveillance technology at protest sites is being used to identify, track and harass people who are simply exercising their human rights,” said Amnesty International in a statement.
NYPD disputes that, as the agency’s website says it does not use facial recognition technology to monitor and identify people in crowds or at rallies.
However, as thousands of New Yorkers came out to participate in marches for racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement in mid-2020, Amnesty International researchers found they risked high levels of exposure to FRT. Researchers mapped out a sample route of a protestor walking from W4 St/Wash Sq subway station to and from Washington Square Park and found they would be surveilled for approximately 100 percent of their journey by pan, tilt and zoom cameras operated by the NYPD.
Amnesty International also launched a website that allows users to see just how much potential there is for any walking route between two New York City locations to be exposed to FRT surveillance.
Some states have enacted privacy laws that govern the commercial use of FRT, like Texas, Illinois and Washington. In May 2019, San Francisco became the first city in the country to ban facial recognition surveillance by city agencies, including its police department.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report last year that found 20 federal agencies that employ law enforcement officers own FRT systems or use ones owned by others. Six agencies reported using FRT to help identify people suspected of violating the law during the civil unrests, riots or protests following the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
Three federal agencies acknowledged using FRT on images of the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
The GAO recommended that federal agencies implement a way to track which non-federal FRT systems are used by employees and assess the risks of using these systems.
READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
UST 20 MINUTES OF DAILY EXERCISE AT 70 COULD STAVE OFF MAJOR HEART DISEASE: STUDY
FEARS OF AVOCADO SHORTAGE RISE AFTER IMPORT BAN
WE NEED TO DEFINE WHEN A PANDEMIC BECOMES ENDEMIC
LGBTQ+ GROUP SLAMS FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL IN NEW AD
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
