NYPD commissioner reveals plans for smartphone app, new cameras

NEW YORK — The nation’s largest police department will double down on its use of technology this year, relying on both benign and controversial tactics that Mayor Eric Adams has supported.

“We are shifting the paradigm. The NYPD is going to be the most accessible police department in the world,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in laying out her tech-focused agenda during a “State of the NYPD” speech Wednesday morning.

Sewell unveiled plans for a smartphone app that can provide real-time public safety information to users. In an address heavy on NYPD-produced videos of officers’ field work, she also showed off newly-designed police cars with cameras that will rotate 360 degrees. The commissioner shared the blueprint at the New York City Police Foundation’s annual breakfast of police brass and business executives. Adams, a retired NYPD captain, also attended the formal event at Cipriani in Midtown.

The new app would enable New Yorkers to access collision reports, file criminal complaints and locate precincts, Sewell said. It would use “augmented reality” — technology that superimposes computer-generated images over real ones.

“We also recognize that the smartphones we give our officers can do so much more,” she added. “In the near future, an augmented reality application will assist our officers with known conditions, wanted subjects and hazards in real time by simply holding up their phone to a location.”

Adams, who has made public safety the central pillar of his administration, has pushed for more police technology, telling POLITICO in an interview last month, “Big Brother is protecting you."

But he and Sewell have different takes on one highly-debated practice.

Adams has vowed to expand the use of facial recognition software — technology that boosters say will assist in solving crime and opponents warn will trample on civil rights and inaccurately target people of color. After announcing his intention to rely more heavily on it last February, Adams had been relatively mum on the subject. But he again emphasized its utility in a recent interview with 1010 WINS, saying it could aid in combating shoplifting.

Sewell, on the other hand, did not share that view.

“We have no plans to expand that at this time,” she told reporters following her speech, when asked about facial recognition technology.

“Between its use of spying drones, rampant facial recognition technology, and other invasive policing tactics, we’ve seen time and time again that the NYPD cannot police itself,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “As it looks to deploy new apps to officer and civilian phones, the Department needs to be transparent about its plan for these technologies and how they will store and protect New Yorkers’ data — ensuring that this rollout complies with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act. To truly uphold New Yorkers’ privacy and safety, any technology adopted by the NYPD must be subject to public scrutiny and review," she said in a statement.

Sewell also divulged plans to better avail residents of the NYPD’s CompStat data, saying each commander will be expected to present a plan for community involvement, as well as to improve morale in an agency facing an unusually-high reduction in headcount. The New York Times reported that through last November, roughly 1,225 officers had resigned before reaching five years of service.

During Adams’ first year in office, shootings and homicides dropped but overall crime rose by 23 percent, according to NYPD statistics. Actual crime and perceived chaos have dominated headlines and regularly rank as a leading concern for voters in public-opinion polls.

Sewell sought to put a positive spin on the statistics, noting arrests are up and the detective bureau’s clearance rate is “exceptional.” At the end of last year, the mayor’s team said the NYPD cleared nearly 83 percent of suspected murders in 2022.

“It was, and continues to be, a hard fight but we are conditioned for it,” Sewell said. “And the NYPD is doing all of this with reduced staffing levels not seen since 2014.”