Council probes NYPD access to NYCHA cameras tied to Big Apple Connect

Council members pressed city agencies at a joint oversight hearing over the use of surveillance in New York City Housing Authority developments and the role of the mayor's Big Apple Connect broadband program in expanding NYPD access to building cameras.

Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez, chair of the Council's Committee on Technology, opened the hearing by calling for transparency and resident input on the trade-off between affordable Internet access and privacy. "It's like handling out free umbrellas in a storm but never fixing the roof," Gutierrez said, arguing that the administration's outreach around Big Apple Connect failed to disclose the surveillance implications for many NYCHA residents.

The hearing brought together officials from the city's Office of Technology and Innovation, the New York Police Department and NYCHA to explain how existing NYCHA cameras are being connected to the NYPD's Domain Awareness System (DAS) and how that access is governed. Brett Saikoff, executive director for franchise administration and broadband at OTI, described Big Apple Connect as a large, city-subsidized broadband program and defended the program's extension through June 2028, saying it has connected hundreds of thousands of residents to low-cost service. "Big Apple Connect is the nation's largest municipally subsidized broadband program," Saikoff said.

Inspector Anthony Masia of the NYPD's Information Technology Bureau told the committees that live access to cameras helps detectives respond more quickly to crimes: "When crimes are captured on video, NYPD detectives can use that video to identify and apprehend the perpetrators." He said the NYPD has had direct fiber access to some NYCHA cameras for years and that the Big Apple Connect connection is providing the department a lower-cost way to obtain remote access to additional preexisting…