5 | Surveillance or Law Enforcement

 

Police departments across the country use surveillance technology and tools everyday.

The influx of these programs––facial recognition, license plate readers, social media monitors, cell phone trackers, and predictive policing––poses new threats across America, creating oppressive and stigmatizing environments for people of color, low-income families, and marginalized communities. Law enforcement treats these groups as enemies of the state or as prospective criminals, turning their communities into open-air prisons where their behavior is constantly monitored, recorded, and scrutinized. 

Surveillance technology risks obscuring and automating racial inequalities under the guise of an unbiased computer system, but this technology is often more error-prone for people of color. The systems generally work best on middle-aged white men's faces, but not so well for people of color, women, children, or the elderly. And these racially biased algorithms have devastating impacts for people of color, with false matches leading to wrongful arrests, detainment, and even deadly police violence. 

These tools, while aimed at helping crime watch, are also a direct attack on civil liberties and personal privacy and raise major constitutional issues. Because these cameras record everything, this means that even those who aren't suspected of any crimes are being recorded. This is an invasion of privacy. Many civil liberty groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), argue that this technology infringes the American's right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment. 

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Interestingly, the decision to utilize this technology is at the discretion of the police departments, oftentimes without any knowledge or input from the public or elected officials. 

Flock Camera Technology

Recently, Flock cameras, or license plate recognition cameras, have been implemented all over the United States. 

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These tools, installed by law enforcement to collect license plate numbers and provide police with live footage, store this data within a surveillance network. All of these scans become data that law enforcement can use when investigating crimes. 

Flock states that all of its data is encrypted throughout its entire lifecycle, and argues that they will never share or sell this data with any third parties. But concerns remain over how secure this data is, especially when considering the loopholes users can utilize when trying to gain access to it. And while Flock states they don't use facial recognition software or record people's racial or ethnic identities, the EFF found that over 80 law enforcement agencies used racist language when searching Flock's ALPR network.

Allegedly, Flock cameras have been used by law enforcement to monitor and arrest people suspected of being undocumented. While Flock states it doesn't share information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Associated Press reported that U.S. Border Patrol officials have used Flock data to detain and surveil individuals with "suspicious" driving histories. 

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Flock cameras have also been found to have been used in the persecution of those seeking reproductive health care. 404 Media reported that a Texas law enforcement agency allegedly searched Flock's license plate database for a woman who they said administered a self-administered abortion, including in states where abortion is legal. The sheriff said this search was because the woman's family was concerned, but privacy experts expressed concerns about law enforcement in a state where abortion is illegal accessing cameras in other states where it is legal. 

But do they actually reduce crime? This is a tricky answer.

Research is mixed on whether these cameras improve public safety. One review said that they didn't actively reduce crime, while another study reported that they improved clearance rates for thefts and crimes committed near cameras. 

In an era where we are constantly monitored, tracked, and recorded, surveillance poses a major threat to our privacy and liberties. While aimed at lessening crime, these tools are never fully secured, and we should always view companies with a raised eyebrow. But as surveillance technology evolves, we can only evolve alongside it and learn how to navigate a world where everything we say or do is recorded.