Researchers with Georgetown University’s law school sued the NYPD Tuesday for not disclosing internal documents related to its use of facial recognition technology.
The researchers with Georgetown’s Center for Privacy and Technology sued the department under the state Freedom of Information Law in Supreme Court in Manhattan.
“There is no basis in law or fact for the respondent to withhold the requested records, or redact them,” the lawsuit said.
In January 2016, the researchers filed a broad FOIL request for any documents about purchasing of equipment, audits, training materials and pacts with other agencies, among other records, the lawsuit said.
That March, the department rejected the entire request, asserting that disclosure “would reveal non-routine techniques and procedures.” The researchers appealed.
In January, the NYPD issued a final rejection of the request, this time claiming it was able to find just a single memo responsive to the request.
“They essentially claimed they couldn’t find any policies, any user manuals, any training records,” Center for Privacy and Technology associate Clare Garvie said. “If that’s true, if they don’t have any of these records, that’s a very concerning prospects.”
Garvie says she doubts the use of the technology is “non-routine,” since NYPD officials have publicly said it’s been used in thousands of cases.
“The disclosure of these records is critical to informing the public of the types of facial recognition systems used by the Department, how they are deployed, and what safeguards are implemented to ensure that the public’s privacy and civil rights are respected,” the lawsuit said.
“The information in these records will provide the bases for the much-needed debate on whether the Department’s use of this powerful technology is in the public interest.”
Garvie said the center has sent similar requests to 180 law enforcement agencies as part of a comprehensive study of how authorities use facial recognition software, how accurate it is, and how it’s regulated.
“There’s a certain amount of privacy we’ve come to expect through inefficiency,” she said. “In theory, law enforcement agencies could keep an eye on all of us, keep a tail on all of us, but they don’t have enough personnel. Technology is beginning to change that.”
The lawsuit notes that many law enforcement officials from elsewhere have visited the NYPD’s facial recognition unit.
“It would be unlikely that the Department gained this reputation in the field with no documentation corresponding to most of the records the Center requested,” the lawsuit said.
The NYPD referred a request for comment to the city Law Department.
“We will review the complaint and respond accordingly,” a Law Department spokesman said.
The NYPD has used the technology since 2011 in the Real Time Crime Center’s Facial Identification Section in police headquarters.
