
Rishabh Varshney via Unsplash
June 28, 2018
OTI's Robyn Greene and Lawrence McDonald wrote for Slate's Future Tense channel about Newark's new street surveillance program and its danger to privacy and personal freedoms, particularly for communities of color:
Over the past few months, there have been repeated reminders of how members of the public allow their racial biases to influence their perceptions, leading them to call the police when black people are simply engaging in everyday activities. In Oakland, California, a white woman called the police on a group of black residents who were barbecuing in the park. In Philadelphia, two black men in a Starbucks were wrongfully arrested after the store manager called the police as they were waiting for a business meeting. Three black Airbnb guests in Rialto, California, were detained when a white woman called the police and reported a robbery because they did not wave at her. At Yale University, a woman called the police on a black student for taking a nap in her dorm’s common room.
The Newark Police Department’s new street surveillance program, Citizen Virtual Patrol, is sure to supercharge these biases and the harm they cause. This program allows people from anywhere in the world to watch high-definition live feeds from 62 surveillance cameras installed across the city. If someone sees something that they think looks like criminal activity, they are encouraged to call 911 so the Newark Police Department can dispatch officers to the location of the camera. (Observers from outside of the area are encouraged to call Newark police directly.)