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Zohran Mamdani Just Inherited the NYPD Surveillance State

WIRED

In addition to affordability, New York City's mayor-elect will be forced to reckon with the NYPD's sweeping mass surveillance operations. New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani may have an ambitious policy agenda, but overhauling the self-governing and deeply dysfunctional behemoth that is the New York City Police Department is not on the list. Mamdani surprised supporters by asking current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on after his inauguration early next year. Tisch, a technocrat heir to a vast real estate fortune, clashes with Mamdani on several fronts, including policy (she believes New York State's bail reforms caused rising crime) and the geopolitics that inevitably make their way into New York City's streets. One area where Mamdani is guaranteed to clash with Tisch is on the NYPD's massive technical surveillance apparatus and intelligence-gathering methods, which have metastasized since 9/11 to levels that rival the capabilities of a midsize country.


Drone surveillance catches kids in dangerous high-speed stunt atop moving subway train in New York City

FOX News

An NYPD drone captured four minors between the ages of 12 and 16 riding on top of a train in the Bronx Thursday as it passed multiple stations at a high speed. Three teenagers and one 12-year-old boy were apprehended by police after an NYPD drone captured them riding on top of a train in New York City Thursday passing through multiple stations at a high speed. NYPD drone footage obtained by Fox News Digital shows the four subway surfers -- between the ages of 12 and 16 -- climbing up the side of the moving northbound 6 express train as it passed beneath the Westchester Avenue Bridge. The minors can then be seen standing up and forming a line, some of them jumping up and down and spreading their arms. NYPD drone footage obtained by Fox News Digital shows the four subway surfers -- between the ages of 12 and 16 -- climbing up the side of the moving northbound 6 express train as it passed beneath the Westchester Avenue Bridge.


New York law would ban civilians from weaponizing robots

Popular Science

Lawmakers in New York have proposed a new bill that would make it illegal to mount weapons to robots or drones. That is of course, unless the people operating those weaponized machines happen to work with law enforcement or the military. If passed, the Responsible Robotics Act would make New York the first state to ban weaponized robots for civilians, at a time when government spending on autonomous and semi-autonomous police technology is on the rise. The bill specifically bans the sale, transfer, modification, operation, or equipping of robots or drones with mounted weapons. Prohibited weapons include firearms, stun guns, chemical agents, lasers, and explosives.


How NYPD is using AI, drones and DNA in manhunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's assassin

Daily Mail - Science & tech

As the search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's killer enters its sixth day, police are using cutting-edge technology to zero-in on his identity and whereabouts. Artificial Intelligence, drones and DNA analysis are all playing a critical role in the ongoing manhunt for the'brazen' assassin who shot Thompson, 50, in broad daylight Wednesday. AI-powered facial recognition software is being used to analyze CCTV and other images of the killer from the days around the shooting and cross-reference them with NYPD databases of known individuals. This database includes'lawfully possessed arrest photos' which the AI compares to photo and video evidence from the investigation. The department also has use of more than 100 drones for surveilling the more than 450-square-mile city.


NYPD believes UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin left New York City on a bus morning of shooting

FOX News

NEW YORK – The masked gunman wanted in connection with the ambush shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Wednesday morning fled the crime scene using various modes of transportation before police believe he got on a bus out of the Big Apple, authorities told Fox News. Police traced his route from the crime scene near 54th Street and Sixth Avenue up to Central Park, which he exited at 77th Street and Central Park West, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told Fox News Friday. Kenny's boss, new NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, added that investigators have picked up an abundance of video and digital evidence in addition to physical evidence they hope can lead them to the killer. "We actually have a tremendous amount of forensic evidence in this case that we've collected- DNA evidence, fingerprint evidence, which is all at the lab now being processed," she told Fox News Friday. This undated photo provided by UnitedHealth Group shows UnitedHealthcare chief executive officer Brian Thompson.


6 key data points NYPD will use to get the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter

FOX News

Surveillance video shows the suspect in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a bicycle near West 85th Street in Manhattan after the killing. The speculation regarding the shooting of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson continues to run rampant. While this can be interesting, the truth is that the on-the-ground investigation will be far more prosaic than glamorous. It can be a daunting amount of information. As such, let's look at some hard data points that are likely jumping-off points for investigators who have to play the percentages (and some that are not): The idea that someone off the street can walk into a social club or call-a-guy-who-knows-a-guy who kills for a living is essentially a myth – I cannot recall one in my experience.


New York City police will send drones to sites of reported robberies and gunshots

The Guardian

The New York police department (NYPD) announced it will begin using drones to respond to reports of robberies and alerts from a city-wide gunshot detection system. The drones will fly to the scene, piloted by an NYPD officer, and record video and audio that will be sent to police officers' smartphones in real time, according to a press release. The integration of these two surveillance technologies is part of a broader "Drone as First Responder" program that has existed since 2018. The New York city mayor, Eric Adams, and the city's interim police commissioner, Tom Donlan, announced the expansion on Wednesday afternoon. It will be initially rolled out to five precincts in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan.


More blue cities using drones for some 911 calls, expert says: 'They can't get cops'

FOX News

Quick, efficient and with a bird's eye view of any scene, more police departments are embracing the use of drones to carry out law enforcement work, with some blue cities now even using them to respond to 911 calls. Around 1,500 police departments across the country are currently using drones in some form, according to a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy group, with agencies deploying the technology for crowd control purposes, missing people searches, tracking fleeing suspects or mapping crime scenes. Steep budget cuts and dwindling staff numbers in blue cities, in particular, make drones both an effective and cost-saving tool for police in Democratic strongholds. A law enforcement official sets up a drone during a manhunt for suspect Robert Card following a mass shooting on Oct. 27, 2023, in Monmouth, Maine. Today's police drones are much bigger than regular drones commonly used for recreational purposes, with much longer battery lives and features such as thermal sensors, loudspeakers, spotlights or beacons.


New York City to test AI-enabled gun scanners in subway system

The Guardian

New York City officials announced a pilot program on Thursday to deploy portable gun scanners in the subway system, part of an effort to deter violence underground and to make the system feel safer. The scanners will be introduced in certain stations after a legally mandated 90-day waiting period, the mayor, Eric Adams, said. "Keeping New Yorkers safe on the subway and maintaining confidence in the system is key to ensuring that New York remains the safest big city in America," said Adams, who also announced a plan to send additional outreach workers into subway stations to try to get people with mental health issues who are living in the system into treatment. Adams said officials would work to identify companies with expertise in weapons-detection technology and that after the waiting period, the scanners would be instituted in some subway stations "where the NYPD will be able to further evaluate the equipment's effectiveness". The scanner that Adams and police officials introduced during Thursday's news conference in a lower Manhattan station came from Evolv, a publicly traded company that has been accused of doctoring the results of software testing to make its scanners appear more effective than they are.


Crime-fighting AI robocop is keeping an eye on New York's subway riders

FOX News

New York City's police department has added K5, a crime-fighting machine that is supposed to make the subway safer. Riders on the subway in New York City might have noticed a new addition to the transit system: a robot named K5. K5 is a crime-fighting machine that is supposed to make the subway safer and more secure. But is it really a good idea to have a robot watching over us? CLICK TO GET KURT'S FREE CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH SECURITY ALERTS, QUICK VIDEO TIPS, TECH REVIEWS, AND EASY HOW-TO'S TO MAKE YOU SMARTER K5 is 64.5" tall and weighs in at 420 pounds.