The Legal Aid Society has launched a webpage giving the public access to documents related to the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) purchase of novel and invasive electronic surveillance technologies through the special expense (SPEX) budget — a program that ran from 2007 to 2020 and allowed the NYPD to shield certain transactions from public view.

The first batch of records produced includes agreements for the purchase of cellphone tracking, facial recognition, and iris scanning technologies. The webpage will be updated upon receipt of additional materials, as the NYPD continues to turn them over.

The launch follows a unanimous appellate ruling affirming a lower court order that required the NYPD to disclose these records, after the Department had resisted providing them for over four years. 

“After more than a decade of the NYPD evading any oversight or accountability for its acquisition of surveillance capabilities, the launch of this webpage is a vital step toward the transparency New Yorkers deserve,” said Jerome Greco, Director of Legal Aid’s Digital Forensics Unit.

“For years, the NYPD exploited the SPEX budget to conceal its purchases of invasive technologies, cutting the public out of critical debates about privacy and civil liberties. However, true accountability requires not only access to these records, but also stronger legislative safeguards to ensure the NYPD can no longer operate in the shadows.”