PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Nina Loshkajian, Technology and Racial Justice Collaborative Fellow at the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU School of Law
4:05:20
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Nina Loshkajian urges the NYC City Council to pass Intros 480 and 168 with recommended amendments to enhance transparency and oversight of NYPD surveillance technologies. She emphasizes the importance of disclosing information about these technologies, their policies, and data sharing practices to prevent discriminatory tracking and abusive overreach.
- Highlights the need for NYPD to disclose evaluations of potential disparate impacts on people of color and other protected groups
- Cites evidence of racial bias in facial recognition technology and the NYPD Gang database
- Argues that passing these bills is a necessary step forward in police surveillance oversight, building upon the original POST Act
Nina Loshkajian
4:05:20
Hi.
4:05:21
Thank you so much.
4:05:22
Good afternoon, Gutierrez, Chair Salam, Chair Brewer, and committee members.
4:05:27
My name is Ninole Shkajian.
4:05:28
I am the Technology and Racial Justice Collaborative Fellow at the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU School of Law.
4:05:35
We are here to urge the council to pass intros four eighty and one sixty eight with recommend recommended amendments agreed upon by NYPD and advocacy groups as discussed previously in this hearing because these bills would ensure that the spirit of transparency and oversight that inspired the passage of the original POST Act endures today.
4:05:55
It is critical that all New Yorkers, and particularly those from black and brown communities, have access to basic information about the technology police use to surveil us Without requiring NYPD to disclose essential details such as the types of technology procured, the policies adopted regarding their use, and how the large swaths of data collected are shared, this counsel leaves space for abusive overreach and discriminatory tracking by law enforcement and other government actors.
4:06:20
Just as US Congress is charged with checking the president, this council is responsible for ensuring that the mayor and the MIPD are operating in line with the law, including by not deploying tools they know or should know are discriminatory.
4:06:32
Of particular import in the bills in front of the council today is the requirement in Intro four eighty that the NYPD specifically disclose evaluation of potential disparate impact on people of color and other protected groups arising from the use of surveillance technologies.
4:06:47
Despite some interesting claims made earlier in this hearing by NYPD representatives, well documented racial bias is present in tools we know are used by NYPD, yet the current Post Act and IUPs only give blanket statements using nonspecific language addressing concerns of bias.
4:07:04
But there's ample evidence showing bias in these technologies.
4:07:07
Studies have shown facial recognition has a much higher error rate for Black women.
4:07:11
That's whether you want to say that the technology sees color or not, that's just the end result.
4:07:17
And we also know this is present in other tools such as the NYPD Gang database, which is comprised of 99% Black and Brown New Yorkers.
4:07:24
So in closing, I'd like to urge the passing of Intros 04/8168.
4:07:29
When it passed in the summer of twenty twenty, the POST Act was always envisioned as a minor but essential first step towards critical oversight of police surveillance activity.
4:07:38
And now that it's almost five years since its passage, it is well past time for the next step forward.
4:07:43
This is still a minor and hopefully uncontroversial step forward, but a meaningful one.
4:07:48
I do think despite a lot of the heated back and forth earlier in this hearing, when you get to the actual language of this bill and the proposals, hopefully, they can still be uncontroversial given that the NYPD has expressed willingness to negotiate amendments with advocacy groups.
4:08:03
So I'm I really appreciate the chance to testify and urge strongly the passage of these, proposed amendment bills.
4:08:10
Thank you.