The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is also deploying surveillance drones this weekend to mark street festivals in the Brooklyn borough. The focus is on crowds gathering for J’ouvert. The festival has its origins in the Caribbean. In New York, the diaspora of Caribbean origin celebrates emancipation from slavery around the West Indian American Day carnival parade.
“If a caller tells us there’s a large crowd or party in a backyard, we’ll look into things,” NYPD Deputy Chief Kaz Daughtry said at a news conference. The drones are used to weigh up whether and how many emergency services are sent to a specific location. At J’ouvert events there are always gun violence.
„Dystopisch“
While New York Mayor Eric Adams advocates the use of the technology, experts warn of possible misuse and constitutional violations. Civil rights activists also criticized the plans for J’ouvert as ethnic profiling.
“The use of surveillance drones over New Yorkers celebrating J’ouvert with their friends and families is discriminatory and does not make us any safer,” Daniel Schwarz of New York’s Civil Liberties Union said in a statement, according to the New York Times.
Schwarz called the procedure “dystopian” and called for stricter guidelines for the officers. These are necessary because the New York police have specifically monitored people with black and brown skin in the past and
have controlled.
Not first NYPD drone operation
This isn’t the first time the NYPD has used drones. At the beginning of August, they were used after two Internet stars in Manhattan got out of hand. This is how people keep an eye out for sharks on the beaches of the metropolis. And at the Pride Parade in June, drones informed attendees that it was time to go home.
2023-09-02 15:59:04
#Surveillance #drones #street #festivals #York
