New York public housing tenants sue, say free internet plan handed NYPD camera access

A program meant to help New York City public housing residents get online became a tool that police officers used for surveillance.

Two Brooklyn tenant associations claim the city silently turned free internet access into a tool for police surveillance by giving the New York Police Department access to security cameras at their developments, as City Limits reported.

What happened?

Brooklyn Defender Services and Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP filed the case for residents of the Tilden Houses and Hughes Houses. The complaint says the NYC Housing Authority, or NYCHA, and the NYPD gave police access to existing camera feeds through Big Apple Connect without informing tenants.

The lawsuit also states, "The cumulative effect of these disproportionate police surveillance and monitoring activities has been to place public housing residents, who are majority people of color, at a distinct and enduring socioeconomic disadvantage by making these residents hyper-visible to the NYPD."

City officials have defended the arrangement as a public safety measure. At a city council hearing in September, Inspector Anthony Mascia said that direct access helps speed investigations.

Eva Trimble, NYCHA's chief operating officer, also said at the hearing that the cameras are "not pointing towards doors or any areas that have assumed privacy," City Limits noted.

Why is this concerning?

The lawsuit says tenants noted that private residences across the street don't have the same surveillance.

"I believe this level of surveillance access is dangerous because it can become discriminatory and prejudicial to the people in our community," Gina Boatright, president of the Tilden Houses Tenant Association, said in a statement, per City Limits. "It can become pure harassment."

The backlash to this sort of surveillance mirrors a similar rejection of Flock cameras throughout the country. There is fear that this sort of surveillance can lead to errors that essentially make people guilty until proven innocent. And according to Newsweek, police officers in at least a dozen states have allegations against them of misusing license plate readers.

What's being done?

The lawsuit asks the court to examine how NYCHA and the NYPD used Big Apple Connect and whether residents' rights were violated. The tenant associations are seeking accountability, transparency, and limitations on surveillance tools.

"I object to NYCHA or law enforcement taking advantage of residents because that internet was provided free of charge," Boatright concluded in her statement. "If Big Apple Connect is being used in this way, I would rather NYCHA take it back."

Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.