REMARKS
Council Member Gale Brewer's opening remarks on NYPD's implementation of the POST Act
0:07:25
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3 min
Council Member Gale Brewer, chair of the Committee on Oversight and Investigations, provides opening remarks on the hearing examining the NYPD's implementation of the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technologies (POST) Act. She emphasizes the importance of the act in providing transparency and oversight of police surveillance technologies, while highlighting concerns about the NYPD's compliance with the act's requirements.
- Brewer explains the purpose of the POST Act and its significance in balancing public safety with civil liberties
- She outlines specific issues with the NYPD's compliance, including the use of boilerplate language in Impact and Use Policies (IUPs) and omissions of high-profile technologies
- The council member introduces the legislation being discussed and acknowledges the staff who worked on organizing the hearing
Gale Brewer
0:07:25
Thank you very much council member Salaam.
0:07:28
I am Gail Brewer.
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I chair the committee on oversight and investigations.
0:07:31
I wanna thank you all for being here.
0:07:33
Just as the chair indicated, we're examining, the PD's implementation.
0:07:39
We keep repo saying it over and over again because I don't think people know what the hell the Post Act is.
0:07:44
It's the Public Oversight of Surveillance of Technologies Act.
0:07:50
It's here.
0:07:51
We all wanna keep our city safe in a changing and threatening world, and New Yorkers have provided the NYPD with the authority and means to conduct extensive high-tech surveillance over our streets, our phones, and just about anywhere else.
0:08:07
They believe evidence of public safety threatens may lurk.
0:08:13
NYPD's wide ranging surveillance powers have the potential to keep us safer, but they also carry an inherent potential for abuse and violation of civil liberties, as the chair indicated.
0:08:25
So in 2020, the council passed a post act to provide greater transparency into the police department's use of these technologies and intelligence gathering techniques.
0:08:36
The act compels the department to release surveillance impact and use policies or IUPs for any technology it utilizes so the public can understand and comment on how police watch them.
0:08:47
And as it changes so often, it's an example of why we need this act.
0:08:52
Unfortunately, the police department's compilence with the act leaves much to be desired.
0:08:59
In the first post act annual report, the office of inspector general for the NYPD found that the IUPs released by the department have been filled with boilerplate, often identical language to describe different data collection technologies and methods.
0:09:16
I think there were 15 suggestions how to address that.
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The police department also used single IUPs to cover multiple significantly different technologies in a way that can obscure how each individual method works.
0:09:33
Subsequent post act reports have entirely omitted or failed to update IUPs on high profile new police technologies like autonomous robots, I think we remember that one, GPS trackers, aerial drones, and biometric data applications.
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All these technologies can greatly expand police surveillance's reach into New Yorkers' lives with fearsome potential for abuse if the department does not comply with oversight measures.
0:10:04
And today, in 2025, this is of particular significance.
0:10:09
So we meet today to hear from the Department of Investigation and NYPD about how they will make sure the department follows the laws of the city, restrains itself from subjecting residents to invasive surveillance, and makes necessary public reports.
0:10:25
To that end, we're also hearing, as you heard earlier, several pieces of legislation, and the chair mentioned all three of them.
0:10:33
I also want to mention, just as a personal note, examples of what we're not, which is I have a relative who just was on a business trip to Dubai, and there are no police, but there is a camera on every single building imaginable.
0:10:50
Is that good?
0:10:51
Is that bad?
0:10:52
I don't know, but that's how they do their policing, and I bet they don't have
0:10:55
a post act.
0:10:56
So I'd like to thank the following council staff for their work.
0:11:01
From the O and I committee staff, Nicole Krotta, Erica Cohen, Alex Yablon, and Owen Kotowski, from my staff, Sam Goldsmith, and everyone who made it possible for this hearing to take place.
0:11:14
And now I'd like to hear, as we all do, from council member Gutierrez.