PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by David Siffert, Legal Director of Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
1:51:11
ยท
148 sec
David Siffert, Legal Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, testifies on the importance of the NYPD Inspector General's office, praising their work despite budget constraints and highlighting the need for increased transparency in NYPD cooperation. He expresses support for Intro 1020-2024, emphasizing the importance of timely leadership appointments for the IG office.
- Commends OIG-NYPD's work, particularly their report on the POST Act
- Discusses the variability in OIG-NYPD's output over time, correlating with NYPD's cooperation levels
- Supports provisions in Intro 1020-2024 for prompt replacement of leadership and increased transparency
David Siffert
1:51:11
Thank you, chair Brewer, council members Williams, and Ayala, and to the whole committee staff.
1:51:16
Very grateful to be here.
1:51:18
My name is David Siffert.
1:51:19
I'm the legal director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.
1:51:23
The first thing I want to say is how grateful we are to OIG NYPD for the work that they've done.
1:51:30
Especially their report on the POST Act has made a huge difference.
1:51:34
Just next month this committee, along with the Committee on Technology and the Committee on Public Safety, will be hearing a couple of bills that are that come directly from the OIG's Post Act report and I think will hopefully make a really big difference in providing transparency as to the surveillance technology that NYPD uses.
1:51:54
I also think it's important to note that OIG NYPD has done this very good work on a small budget, and I know, Chair Brewer, that you've been an advocate of increasing that budget for a while and I think that, I'm all the more impressed with the work they've been able to do on that budget and hopefully with more money they'd be able to do even more.
1:52:14
It's also important, I think, to note that the output from OIG and YPD has been variable over time.
1:52:23
Originally they came out with quite a large number of reports in a short amount of time, that number dipped, as we saw, at least in our opinion, NYPD becoming less cooperative, and then, at least from public statements it seems like NYPD has become a little bit more cooperative and the number of reports has gone up.
1:52:40
I think this really hammers home that aside from budgetary issues, there does need to be some degree of transparency in terms of how cooperative NYPD is being with the Office of Inspector General.
1:52:54
I think that one of the bills we'll be discussing next month, intro 168, will require NYPD to have a certain degree of cooperation, but I think, those requirements are hard to enforce in the absence of transparency, and I think this bill will go a long way into providing that transparency.
1:53:14
And, the last thing I want to say on the bill is this is an extremely important office, as I think we all know.
1:53:22
It's already making a big difference, and so it's important that that office has leadership at all times, and so I do think the provision that requires prompt placement of leadership is important.
1:53:31
This provision is modeled on other sections of the law that requires prompt replacement of leadership, so it should be something that's possible and we encourage the council to pass it.