LDF Sends Letter Expressing Concerns Over NYPD’s Compliance with the POST Act

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Today, a coalition that includes the  NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc (LDF), sent a letter to the New York City Police Department Police Commissioner and Commissioner of the Department of Investigation expressing concern that the NYPD’s draft impact and use policies do not reflect a good faith effort to comply with the requirements of the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology Act (POST Act). Detailed within the letter are concerns pertaining to: 

1. The draft policies fail to address systemic racial discrimination and other disparate impact concerns. 
2. The draft policies fail to disclose how data is collected, stored, and shared in a way that addresses civil liberties and racial equity concerns.
3. The draft policies must end overreliance on boilerplate disclosures, address the interdependence of surveillance tools, and establish meaningful audit processes.

Without meaningful transparency and effective oversight, the NYPD will continue to conceal its use of surveillance technology, prevent government and the public from studying the impact of these systems, and shield itself from accountability. We urge the NYPD to update these disclosures to provide the transparency necessary to enable the public and the City Council to effectively assess the civil rights, civil liberties, and racial justice impacts of the Department’s sprawling surveillance system. 

Read the full letter here.