Police Surveillance Technology

 

The proliferation in local police departments’ use of surveillance technology, which in most places has occurred without any community input or control, presents significant threats to civil rights and civil liberties that disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income communities.

Here is a list of costly and invasive surveillance technologies that might be recording you, your family, and your neighbors right now:

1.) Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras

CCTV allows the police to monitor us any time we are in a public space, even if they have no reason for doing so. Despite proof that CCTV is ineffective in reducing crime, these cameras are widely deployed, especially in communities of color and low-income communities.

Amazon's Ring video doorbell has links to law enforcement. Acquired in February 2018 by Amazon, the Ring video doorbell range has been marketed as an easy way for homeowners to keep watch of parcels and to see who is at the door from their smartphone, via the official app. If police want copies of your Amazon Ring video, Amazon has provided a law enforcement portal for police to ask for and obtain copies of your video, without a court order.


2.) Stingrays

The device mimics a cell phone communications tower, causing your cell phone to communicate with it. Once linked, the Stingray can track your location and intercept data from your phone, including your voice and typed communications. Used often without a warrant, these devices can sweep in the information of hundreds or thousands of phones at a time, while interfering with your cell phone’s signal.

The ACLU published a map in 2018 showing police departments and government agencies that were using Stingray devices. The Department of the Army was one agency that was confirmed to be using Stingray devices, and in 2019 Joint Base Lewis-McChord (a joint Army / Air Force base near Tacoma, WA) sought a protective order from the Federal District Court in Tacoma to seal records that showed the Army was using Stingray to target the civilian community.


3.) Electronic toll readers or E-Z Pass

Although the devices are sold as toll-payment devices, they are frequently used for non-toll purposes without the badge holder’s knowledge or permission. The data captured by electronic toll readers can be used to monitor traffic patterns and create a record of where you travel.


4.) Automatic license plate readers (ALPRs)

Mobile or fixed-location cameras that take photographs of license plates, digitize them, and enable the captured data to be stored, processed, and searched in real time or over the course of months or years. The data collected allows the government to track where you travel in in your car, including where you sleep at night.

According to the ACLU, "ALPRs raise serious concerns to your privacy because of the system's ability to monitor and track the movements of ALL vehicles, including those registered to people who are not suspected of any crime. Without restrictions, law enforcement agencies can and do store the data gathered by the license plate readers forever, allowing them to monitor where you have traveled and when you traveled there over an extended period of time."


5.) Surveillance enabled light bulbs

LED surveillance light bulbs are presented as energy efficient upgrades to incandescent light bulbs, but they can actually conceal tiny cameras and microphones that can stealthily monitor their surroundings and transmit their feeds back to a central monitoring station. If installed on streetlamps and put into widespread use, privacy would become as old-fashioned as the incandescent bulbs they are replacing.


6.) X-ray vans

The mobile technology uses x-ray radiation to see what no human eye can, including through clothing and car exteriors. Government purchasers of these vans have not disclosed exactly how they are using them, but it could be unconstitutional and a possible threat to public health to deploy them on public streets in non-emergencies without a warrant.

In addition to x-ray vans, there are hand-held devices, developed by for the military, but now also used by law enforcement against civilian targets. One such device is the Range-R, a device that uses radio waves to detect the slightest movements, including breathing, from as much as 50 feet away, and can "see" through walls.

7.) Social media monitoring software

This software can be used to covertly monitor, collect, and analyze your public and private social media data from platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, mapping your private relationships and activities. It improperly affects scores of innocent people — disproportionately from communities of color — with the potential to discourage freedoms of speech, assembly, and association online.

Social media monitoring is pervasive. According to a 2017 survey by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 70% of responding police departments use social media for intelligence gathering and to monitor public sentiment. Similarly, Facebook’s latest transparency report states that the company received over 50,000 government requests for data between July and December 2019.


8.) Biometric surveillance technology

Biometric technologies allow you to be identified and tracked using a physical trait, run against DMV, social network, and other databases. Technological limitations and biased engineering practices can lead to false-positives, especially amongst people of color, which results in innocent people unjustifiably drawing the attention of law enforcement.


9.) Hacking software and hardware

These tools allow the government to hack into to your personal laptop, cell phone, and other devices as well as your password-protected websites or accounts. They can be activated in person and remotely without your permission. Because these tools leverage vulnerabilities in commonly used software and services, they make the systems protecting your private information more vulnerable to criminals.


10.) Predictive policing software

Predictive policing software uses mathematical and analytical techniques to attempt to predict future criminal activity, offenders, and victims. Historically biased data is input into an algorithm of unknown accuracy, which produces biased results that will only continue the trend of over-policing communities of color and low-income communities.