Report: More Surveillance Cameras in NY Non-white Communities

A recent study done by Amnesty International mapped out the location of surveillance cameras in New York City, finding a higher surveillance presence in communities with a higher concentration of non-white residents.

The report is a part of Amnesty International’s Decode Surveillance NYC project. With the help of volunteers, researchers at Amnesty International identified over 25,000 cameras throughout the city. Over 3,000 of these cameras are publicly owned and used by government officials and law enforcement.

To analyze the use of these cameras, Amnesty International created a map of the cameras’ distribution. The results of this analysis show a higher number of publicly owned cameras in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. These areas of the city are also populated by a higher number of non-white New Yorkers. 

Additionally, Amnesty International’s findings show that people of color living in these areas are more likely to be the subject of the NYPD’s “stop-and-frisk” searches and are also likely to be exposed to facial recognition technology that relies on data from surveillance cameras. 

Facial recognition technology has been banned in other parts of the country, as the software is criticized for being invasive and disproportionately targeting people of color. The technology is also not entirely reliable, and there have been at least three reported cases of false arrests resulting from law enforcement officials using facial recognition technology. 

Despite this criticism, Mayor Eric Adams said in a recent statement that he intends to use facial recognition technology in an effort to address crime in New York City. 

“We will also move forward on using the latest in technology to identify problems, follow up on leads and collect evidence — from facial recognition technology to new tools that can spot those carrying weapons, we will use every available method to keep our people safe,” Adams said at a press briefing on Jan. 24. 

Adams’ intentions to increasingly utilize facial recognition technology have sparked concern, though a spokesperson for the mayor said the city would not use software that targets specific races or genders.

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