New York Mayor Eric Adams promises to make crime reduction his flagship project for 2023. To carry it out, the leader of the largest metropolis in the United States announced on December 24, in an interview with Politicothe use of digital technologies to reduce the number of crimes and misdemeanors, thereby dismissing fears linked to the establishment of a “police state” in New York. “Big Brother is watching you”from the famous novel 1984 of George Orwell, this one replies: “No, Big Brother protects you”. That doesn’t reassure though.
At the head of the mayor of New York since January 1, 2022, Eric Adams has promised his accession to this position to reduce crime in the city. Problem: a year later, the crime rate jumped 23.5%. If the town hall highlights a drop in shootings and murders, crimes and misdemeanors have not followed the same downward curve, despite a municipal budget of five billion dollars.
“Big Brother protects you”
The New York Mayor “realizes that ensuring the maintenance of public order is one of the most difficult tasks for any politician”comments Politicowhich explains the dilemma that Eric Adams now faces: stay the course at the expense of his popularity or stir up tensions within the Democratic party by opting for “more aggressive crime-fighting strategies”.
His choice is made. Eric Adams, former New York City Police Department (NYPD) captain, after blaming his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, for the high crime rate due to his strained relationship with the city’s police department, announced in his interview that his services go “really lean” on this project in 2023 by making use of “techniques to more accurately identify common criminal processes and develop perpetrator profiles.”
In this context, the politician said that the police will soon be assisted by digital technology, also pleading for an increased use of surveillance cameras and praising facial recognition devices.
A divisive decision. “It blows my mind how little we have embraced technology, and part of that is because a lot of our elected officials are scared,” he believes. A fear, according to him, linked to the idea that the use of technology would lead to surveillance of the population: “All they think about technology is ‘Big Brother is watching you’”. The New York mayor believes the opposite: “No, Big Brother protects you”. A statement that some are sure to call Orwellian.
The use of digital technologies for security purposes is a growing concern. In a survey published on December 21, theAssociated Press (AP) revealed the way in which governments around the world exploit the technologies created to fight against the Covid-19 epidemic for the purposes of surveillance of their populations. Surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition are one of the favorite techniques of these governments.