Over the summer, while announcing the disbanding of a controversial plainclothes unit of the New York City Police Department after weeks of Black Lives Matter protests, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea referred to the need for “21st-century policing” that would use a range of technological tools—ShotSpotter (a sensor system that estimates the location of gunfire), video, DNA, and more—instead of “brute force.” Reliance on such technologies could become the norm as calls for police reform—in particular, the defunding of the police—take root around the country. However, making such changes without adequate public oversight could result in Black people being surveilled and controlled even further.
To see the effects of surveillance technology on societies, look to the experiences of both authoritarian regimes such as China and North Korea and democracies such as Mexico and Israel. Although authoritarian governments with little or no commitment to political rights may appear best poised to deploy sophisticated surveillance technology on a large scale, many nations deployed surveillance systems after 9/11, ostensibly for national security purposes. And since then, a 2019 study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found, liberal democracies and many developing countries have continued racing to implement technological solutions to make their borders “smarter,” policing “safer,” and their citizens better monitored.
