I am quite concerned about the growing presence of police surveillance in New York City and across the country. There seems to be a growing interest in the NYPD to collect data and information about the residents of NYC and come to conclusions about levels of threat from particular individuals and neighborhoods. I think this hyper-surveillance and data collection further endangers marginalized groups and communities of color, particularly Black and Latino neighborhoods.
I have been following some of the debates about congestion pricing in midtown Manhattan. I originally thought the enforcement of congestion pricing would be similar to using one’s EasyPass. That is, as you entered particular zones in the city during particular times of day, your account would be charged and you would go about your day. Indeed, there are implications and possible excessive fees for those coming into Manhattan from the outer boroughs and New Jersey. However, I thought the architects of this proposal would assess those concerns and attempt to make the new fees and fines as equitable as possible. I had no idea of the additional layer of concern.
The new congestion pricing will not be as simple as EasyPass. Instead, the data collection from someone’s license plate will essentially serve as a way for the NYPD to access all different types of information about individuals and their vehicles. This, of course, is a slippery slope since so many of the NYPD interactions and enforcements disproportionately affect poor people and communities of color.
Preliminary reports have shown that police enforcement of vehicles from predominantly Black and marginalized communities are 10 times more likely to be stopped. Thus, the increased interactions with the NYPD can have unwanted interactions, as well as increased and disproportionate fines levied on communities of color…increasing the psychological and economic toll on these groups.
It appears the horse has already left the barn. The implementation of congestion pricing in conjunction with the NYPD and their detailed data collection efforts is already underway. Certain lawmakers in Albany are attempting to curb the tide of what I argue is an overreach of police enforcement. Therefore, we must continue to put pressure on our elected officials to create and support legislation that will protect some of our personal information.
We have already entered an era where technology is used to track our needs and wants, monitor our spending proclivities, and determine even health outcomes based on activity habits. However, as interwoven as technology may already be in our lives, we must continue to speak out about overreaches by the state and law enforcement. Not all data is collected and used in an equitable way. Therefore, spend a little time finding out what your elected official is doing to protect your rights. And as always, be safe when on the road.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio.