The NYPD is throwing its support behind a city program that will allow the department immediate access to surveillance cameras in city housing complexes, claiming that receiving real-time video footage is a “vital tool in the department’s efforts to keep the people of New York City safe.”
Speaking at an emergency City Council Public Safety Committee hearing, NYPD Inspector Anthony Mascia, the commanding officer of the department’s Information and Technology Bureau, said the expansion of the city’s Apple Connect internet system will be a boon to fighting crime in city housing projects.
Apple Connect, created under Mayor de Blasio’s administration, was designed to offer high-speed internet access for NYCHA tenants, but it also allows the NYPD to link up to NYCHA’s surveillance cameras.
The NYPD’s ability to access the cameras through Apple Connect wasn’t made public until August, and immediately drew criticism from city councilmembers and advocates, who feared police will misuse their access to the cameras, a move that was done without any approval or oversight.
But Mascia said the NYPD’s direct access to NYCHA cameras is not only helping detectives solve crimes, but is saving lives.
“The direct access has enabled the department to solve crimes in NYCHA housing more efficiently and effectively and has improved safety in those buildings,” Mascia told the Council. “They are a critical crime-fighting tool that allows us to uphold our commitment to every New Yorker, wherever they live, that we will do everything we can under the law to ensure their safety.”
Apple Connect is not adding more surveillance cameras, but allowing the NYPD real-time access to the cameras that already exist, officials said.
Historically, if a crime was committed at a NYCHA building, detectives would have to physically go to the housing development’s office during business hours and get the specific camera footage either burned onto a disc or uploaded onto a thumb drive.
NYCHA has an emergency-access unit that can speed up the process after hours, but all the required steps slowed down investigations, Mascia said.
“Speed is of the essence,” he said. “The sooner we see those videos, the sooner we can bring a killer to justice, identify a key witness or rule out a suspect. Delays in obtaining video footage are impediments to achieving justice for victims and are obstacles to public safety.”
Through Apple Connect, the NYPD is linked up to more than 7,000 security cameras in 37 NYCHA buildings, city officials said. The department is hoping to connect to 19 more NYCHA sites by the end of November.
“This expansion of the department’s direct access to NYCHA cameras will significantly increase the speed and efficiency of our criminal investigations and will ultimately help reduce crime in NYCHA buildings,” Mascia said.
On May 9, detectives from the 7th Precinct on the Lower East Side were able to track down and arrest a man sought for a homicide because of direct camera access, Mascia added.
The cameras, he said, are located outside building entrances, in lobbies and hallways, not in any private areas.
Deborah Aviles, president of the Mot Haven Tenants Association, backed the NYPD’s access to the cameras.
“I believe cameras are important in NYCHA developments because they provide safety, accountability and peace of mind for families who deserve to feel secure in their homes,” she said.
Despite the apparent public-safety benefits, the Council was concerned that they were not alerted to NYPD’s direct access to the cameras.
“Who is collecting this data?” City Councilman Chris Banks (D-Brooklyn), chairperson of the Council’s Committee on Public Housing, told News 12 Brooklyn last week, as the hearing was being set up. “What are they using this data for? And, basically, how (is it) they left the Council out of this whole process?”
“This is crazy,” he said “We need to know what is going on.”