As Drake fans streamed out of Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater on January 21, they were greeted by a New York City Police Department officer with an iPhone. Holding the phone aloft at head height, the officer captured the faces of hundreds of people leaving the concert.
The incident, captured by a reporter for The New York Times and shared widely on social media, drew immediate criticism and a furious public backlash. To critics, the image serves as a reminder of the growing scale of everyday surveillance in the nation’s largest city under the eyes of the nation’s largest police force.
