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Q&A
The role of technology and human officers in traffic enforcement
0:38:32
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148 sec
Council Member Yusef Salaam inquires about the NYPD's plans to expand the use of technology in traffic enforcement, including cameras and automated systems. Josh Levin, Director of Legislative Affairs for the NYPD, responds with the department's perspective on balancing technology and human involvement in enforcement.
- While open to leveraging technology to improve street safety, the NYPD emphasizes the continued need for human officers in traffic enforcement.
- Three key reasons for human involvement are cited: interdiction, identification, and education.
- Human officers are necessary for tasks such as identifying obscured plates, detecting unlicensed or impaired drivers, and providing face-to-face education to drivers.
- The NYPD maintains that while technology can be helpful, it cannot fully replace the role of human officers in traffic enforcement and safety efforts.
Yusef Salaam
0:38:32
As traffic cameras and other means of automated traffic enforcement become more viable with advanced technology, how does the NYPD anticipate expanding its use of technology to conduct traffic enforcement?
Josh Levin
0:38:49
So when you talk about speed cameras, that really lives with DOT.
0:38:54
But what I will say is this, I kind of touched on this earlier.
0:38:58
Happy to leverage technology in a way that makes the street safer, %.
0:39:02
Right?
0:39:03
But I still think you need a human in the loop.
0:39:05
You'll never be able to take a human out of the loop on this stuff for three reasons.
0:39:08
Right?
0:39:11
Interdiction, identification, and education.
0:39:14
Right?
0:39:15
Identification because if you have an obscured plate, the machine's never gonna pick that up.
0:39:18
You need a human being to be able to do that.
0:39:20
Right?
0:39:20
So that's identification.
0:39:22
Interdiction because you're not gonna know if that driver is unlicensed or is DWI, and you can have a DWI.
0:39:28
You can have a little human being as a police officer make that arrest.
0:39:32
A camera is never gonna be able to do And the third thing is education.
0:39:35
Alright?
0:39:35
Cops have discretion.
0:39:36
When they make a vehicle stop, if the person's like, I'm so sorry.
0:39:39
I'm just racing home to get to my daughter's recital or whatever, you can give a verbal warning because we're all human beings, and we understand this happens to people.
0:39:47
But it's also literally a chance to have a face to face conversation with the driver.
0:39:52
And you can explain to the driver, on this corner last week, we had a fatality.
0:39:56
We had a DWI.
0:39:57
We are out here looking for them.
0:39:59
So that's why I pulled you over, but I gotta remind you to be safe, drive within this, etcetera, etcetera.
0:40:03
You don't wanna see that happen to your daughter, etcetera, etcetera.
0:40:06
So always happy to leverage technology, but still think you need a human in the loop.
Yusef Salaam
0:40:18
This may have been answered, but are there certain types of dangerous driving practices or other traffic violations that would be well suited for automated enforcement using cameras or evolving technologies?
0:40:33
And how could this reduce the need for officer initiated traffic stops?
Josh Levin
0:40:39
I think I'm going to defer back to what I said earlier.
0:40:42
I still think you need a human being, right, especially if someone's recklessly driving.
0:40:45
What's what's a camera gonna do if they're they're weaving in between lanes at at 04:00PM when everyone's getting out of school and stuff.
0:40:51
Right?
0:40:56
But again, always interested to leverage whatever we can, but I think you need the human in the loop for those reasons.