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As New York City prepares for the inauguration of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, an ambitious policy agenda focused on affordability looms large. However, a significant challenge awaits: grappling with the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) formidable and deeply entrenched mass surveillance operations. The revelation that Mamdani has asked current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to remain in her role has surprised many, setting the stage for ideological clashes over the department’s expansive technological capabilities.
A Deep Divide: Mamdani’s Vision vs. Tisch’s Legacy
The Mayor-elect and Commissioner Tisch hold divergent views on crucial policy areas. While Mamdani champions criminal justice reform, including the proposed creation of a $1 billion Department of Community Safety to handle non-emergency 911 calls, Tisch, a technocrat from a prominent real estate family, has a history rooted in the NYPD’s controversial intelligence division. Her past involvement in the “mosque-raking” surveillance of Muslim New Yorkers during the post-9/11 era, coupled with her family’s influential ties to the Israel lobby, starkly contrasts with Mamdani’s vociferously pro-Palestinian stance.
This ideological chasm extends directly to the NYPD’s technical surveillance apparatus. Experts have noted the department’s intelligence-gathering methods have expanded exponentially since 9/11, rivalling the capabilities of a mid-sized country or even a federal intelligence agency. At one point, the NYPD’s Intelligence Division was led by a former CIA veteran, with a CIA analyst embedded within the department, highlighting its sophisticated and far-reaching operations.
The Weaponization of Surveillance Data
The stakes surrounding police surveillance have escalated dramatically, particularly with the federal government’s nationwide immigration enforcement initiatives. These operations increasingly leverage surveillance data collected by local police departments, such as fingerprints and license plate scans, to track and apprehend individuals.
Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a George Washington University Law School professor and author of The Rise of Big Data Policing, emphasizes the critical need for a reckoning on police surveillance. He points out how local data, once primarily used to target marginalized Black communities through CCTV networks and predictive policing, can now be weaponized against a broader population by an authoritarian administration.
“In a horrible way, the sense of how technologies can be weaponized against people has expanded,” Ferguson noted, underscoring the expanded scope of surveillance concerns.
The Domain Awareness System: A $3 Billion Surveillance Web
At the heart of the NYPD’s surveillance capabilities is the Domain Awareness System (DAS), an enormous, $3 billion Microsoft-based network. Commissioner Tisch played a pivotal role in its development. The DAS integrates tens of thousands of public and private surveillance cameras, license plate readers, gunshot detectors, social media feeds, biometric data, cryptocurrency analysis, location data, and live streams from bodyworn and dash cameras, effectively blanketing New York City’s 468-square-mile territory.
Initially conceived under former Commissioner Raymond Kelly as an anti-terrorism tool for Manhattan, the DAS was later rebranded and marketed to other police departments as a potential for-profit system. Despite being operational for over a decade, the DAS remains highly controversial. Recent legal challenges, including a civil suit filed by a Brooklyn couple and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), allege violations of New York State’s constitutional right to privacy. The lawsuit claims the technology allows officers to “automatically track an individual across the city using computer vision software” based on simple descriptors, transforming “every patrol officer into a mobile intelligence unit, capable of conducting warrantless surveillance at will.”
Oversight Deficiencies and Policy Clashes
Despite a 2020 New York City law requiring the NYPD to disclose surveillance technology purchases and deployments, the department has repeatedly refused to comply. This lack of transparency leaves the public largely unaware of the contracts, use policies, and deployments of invasive tools like drones and robotic dogs.
Mamdani’s progressive ideals are on a direct collision course with the NYPD’s operational model, which, according to UC Davis School of Law professor Elizabeth Joh, “has absolutely embraced techno-solutionism as policing.”
Further exacerbating the tension, Mamdani has pledged to eliminate the NYPD’s controversial gang database, a move strongly opposed by Commissioner Tisch. Albert Fox Cahn, founder of STOP, questions why Mamdani would retain a commissioner whose record on privacy and criminal justice directly contradicts the mayor-elect’s agenda. “When mayors are so terrified of firing police commissioners who are inconsistent with their own agenda, do we really have democratic oversight of policing?” Fox Cahn asks, highlighting a fundamental challenge to local democracy.
Protest Policing and Foreign Influence
The NYPD’s repressive approach to protests and the role of its intelligence division have also drawn significant criticism. The infamous Demographics Unit, created under Commissioner Kelly with CIA assistance, systematically mapped Muslim and Middle Eastern communities. While disbanded, and “mosque-raking” operations led to a legal settlement, activists assert that surveillance in these communities persists.
Commissioner Tisch’s background further fuels concern. Beyond her family’s extensive philanthropy, they are prominent donors to Israeli causes and play key roles in the US Israel lobby. Tisch herself began her NYPD career in the Intelligence Bureau, focusing on “Muslim extremism.” More recently, she made headlines for remarks at an “combatting antisemitism” training, labeling Students for Justice in Palestine as “campus extremists” and designating keffiyehs and watermelons as “antisemitic symbols.” The NYPD’s forceful response to pro-Palestinian protests, documented by various outlets, signals another point of contention for Mamdani.
Adding to the complexity is the role of the New York City Police Foundation, which acts as a conduit for funding controversial surveillance technology and underwriting the NYPD’s overseas detectives program. This program posts detectives in 11 countries, with costs rising to over $1.2 million. Concerns have been raised about corporations doing business with the NYPD contributing to the foundation, potentially circumventing public procurement rules for surveillance equipment. The Police Foundation has also been instrumental in the NYPD’s rapid drone expansion under Mayor Eric Adams, with one controversial official, Kaz Daughtry, overseeing significant drone surveillance operations.
As Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepares to take office, his emphasis on affordability will inevitably converge with the formidable challenge of reigning in the NYPD’s surveillance empire. The conflict between a sanctuary city and a surveillance state, between protecting undocumented residents and preventing a data pipeline to federal agencies, stands as a defining struggle for New York City’s future.