Police department transparency in the use of surveillance technology.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to police department transparency in the use of surveillance technology

The Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act was enacted by the City Council in 2020 and requires the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to evaluate and report on surveillance technologies used by the Department. This legislation would clarify language in existing law to ensure increased transparency in NYPD’s required “Impact and Use,” specifically requiring: (1) that NYPD publishes Impact and Use policies for each individual surveillance technology used by the Department; (2) that such Impact and Use policies fully identifies each external entity by name that receives data gathered from such technology; (3) that such Impact and Use policies report on the safeguards in place to prevent dissemination of surveillance data; and (4) that such Impact and Use policies adequately disclose evaluation of potential disparate impacts on protected groups arising from the NYPD’s use such technologies.