In a victory for transparency, The Legal Aid Society’s petition seeking Special Expense (SPEX) budget contracts from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) was granted by a New York Supreme Court Justice.

The “SPEX” contracts were with vendors who provide surveillance and technology products and services. The contracts were kept “offline” and never disclosed to the public. The ruling follows a refusal by the NYPD to grant access to documents requested by Legal Aid through New York’s Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”).

“For over a decade, the NYPD hid the purchase and use of powerful surveillance technologies from legislative and public oversight,” said Benjamin Burger, an attorney in The Legal Aid Society’s Digital Forensics Unit. “Given the Adams Administration’s increasing reliance on these policing technologies, it’s critical for all New Yorkers to know how their tax dollars are being spent.”

Despite the passage of the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology Act (POST), the NYPD’s history of opaqueness surrounding its surveillance capabilities and funding continues.

Legal Aid submitted its FOIL request to bring transparency and greater public understanding to the murky landscape of electronic surveillance technologies that the NYPD has disproportionately used against Black and brown communities, as well as to shine a light on how the NYPD spends its vast budget.