Resources

Campaign Zero reviewed the use of force policies of America’s 100 largest city police departments to determine whether they include meaningful protections against police violence.

A report from Grassroots Leadership, Just Futures Law, and Mijente that documents the rise of surveillance technology use in Austin, Texas. This report looks at the relationship and links between tech companies, city projects, and increases in policing and surveillance of Austin residents. Authors analyze local policing initiatives like the Austin Regional Intelligence Center and note contracts held by local law enforcement agencies with tech companies. They also note the collaboration between local police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and how tech companies bolster this collaboration, leading to deportations and further erosion of Austin’s Black, Latinx, and immigrant residents. The authors also present advocacy demands for this issue.

Facial Recognition can be used to identify people in photos, videos, and in real time, and is usually framed as more efficient and accurate than other forms of identity verification. Schools have also begun to use it to track students and visitors for a range of uses, from automating attendance to school security. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that it will erode individual privacy and disproportionately burden people of color, women, people with disabilities, and trans and gender non-conforming people. In this report, authors focus on the use of Facial Recognition in schools because it is not yet widespread and because it will impact particularly vulnerable populations. On the basis of this analysis, the authors strongly recommend that use of Facial Recognition be banned in schools. They have also offered some recommendations for its development, deployment, and regulation if schools proceed to use the technology.

Since 2006, the nation’s largest police departments have fired at least 1,881 officers for misconduct that betrayed the public’s trust, from cheating on overtime to unjustified shootings. But The Washington Post has found that departments have been forced to reinstate more than 450 officers after appeals required by union contracts.

This is the first of a series of reports on the performance of face recognition algorithms on faces occluded by protective face masks commonly worn to reduce inhalation of viruses or other contaminants. This report documents accuracy of algorithms to recognize persons wearing face masks.

After New York state repealed a law that kept police disciplinary records secret, ProPublica sought records from the civilian board that investigates complaints by the public about New York City police officers. The board provided us with the closed cases of every active-duty police officer who had at least one substantiated allegation against them. The records span decades, from September 1985 to January 2020. We have created a database of complaints that can be searched by name or browsed by precinct or nature of the allegations.

Jails have been described as the criminal justice system’s “front door,” but jail incarceration typically begins with the police, with an arrest. Before any bail hearing, pretrial detention, prosecution, or sentencing, there is contact with the police. But despite their crucial role in the process, we know less about these police encounters than other stages of the criminal justice system. This report analyzes gender and racial disparities in traffic and street stops, including arrests, searches, and use of force that occurs during stops.

Police contracts can create barriers to just and safe policing or provide guidance and structures that hold law enforcement accountable to communities. The contract negotiations process itself can provide a rare opening for community demands to be heard. Join PolicyLink and experts from around the country to learn about how campaigns in San Francisco, Chicago, and Austin, TX, leveraged police contract negotiations into calls for more accountability, made secretive contract negotiations more transparent, and worked to address the excessive power of police unions.

A resource that defines and explains certain surveillance mechanisms and tools used by the Los Angeles Police Department.