NYPD Draft Policy on Cameras
Ali Winston has another good story on the cameras in NYC. (The details of this network came about from a lawsuit filed by the NY Civil Liberties Union.)
Modeled on London’s 10,000 camera system, called the “Ring of Steel,” the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative (LMSI) – which has attained the same nickname – will consist of 3,000 networked cameras monitoring 1.7 miles of area south of Canal Street. One-third of the cameras will be city-owned, with the other two-thirds belonging to private businesses, termed “stakeholders” in the guidelines. Automated license plate readers and environmental sensors will also provide data to the police. The cameras will be monitored by officers at a coordination center on Broadway, which opened last November. The system is expected to cost $89 million in local and federal funds. [More info at Danger Room]
The NYC network is a study in contrast with Chicago.
First, the NYC network is much more geographically focused system. Using my previous estimates, if lower manhattan is 4 square miles, then it would need about 5000 cameras to ensure a camera is every 50 yards. So the network is highly likely to complete saturate the area. In contrast, Chicago is far from evenly covering the city and even the downtown area which has a much higher concentration of cameras is not near this density.
Second, we know something about the NYC network. Through the NYCLU and NYPD, the public knows about the camera system and is being asked for their input. (The NYPD is asking for comments on its privacy guidelines, something Chicago has never done).
Third, the NYPD is putting into place policies for how the surveillance technologies (cameras and ALPR) will be used. The policies make it seem the focus of these technologies is counterterrorism and not crime prevention. As a result, there are procedural safeguards to using the surveillance data for other purposes. In Chicago, the city has never publicly stated what its policies are regarding security and privacy of surveillance data.
From my view, I am just heartened that the NYPD is publicly developing such a policy.
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