special surveillance issue | august 2019 trust the current, hold fast to one another special surveillance issue IN THIS ISSUE august 2019 riverwise 3 10 Green Lights, Cameras, Riverwise Interview with MANAGING Eric T. Campbell EDITOR Distraction Eric Williams RIVERWISE EDITORIAL RIVERWISE Shea Howell BY ERIC T. CAMPBELL EDITORIAL STAFF Gloria House Tawana "Honeycomb" Petty 6 13 RIVERWISE Linda Cassells COLLECTIVE Wayne Curtis Protect Our Privacy! Green Chairs Myrtle Thompson-Curtis No More Surveillance for Not Green Lights: Rich Feldman People in Michigan! Building Community from Lola Gibson-Berg Peggy Gwi-Seok Hong BY DETROIT COMMUNITY Our Front Porches TECHNOLOGY PROJECT Frank Joyce BY MYRTLE THOMPSON-CURTIS Kelvin Lundy Ma Teresa 7 Penman (Mayté) 15 Kim Sherrobi Stop Spreading Surveillance Larry Sparks Resources for BY SHEA HOWELL Alyson Jones-Turner Police Surveillance / LAYOUT/ Albert Frank GRAPHIC DESIGN Facial Recognition Research COVER Detroit Community ILLUSTRATION Technology Project PHOTOS Keviyan Richardson Leah Duncan Civil Rights Coalition Opposes Eric T. Campbell Facial Recognition Technology in DISTRIBUTION pridesource Letter to Detroit Board of Police Commissioners Riverwise Collective August 1, 2019 PRINTING SERVICES Urban Press Detroit DETROIT – Today a diverse coalition of twelve local civil rights organizations urged SPECIAL THANKS the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners to reject the Detroit Police Department’s Eric Williams and the Detroit Justice Center, Myrtle (DPD) proposed use of facial recognition technology in a joint letter. Curtis and Feedom Freedom Growers, Ebony Williams, Keviyan Richardson, Pasha Ellis and Sherrie Smith at “Facial recognition technology is racially biased and poses a grave threat to privacy,” Hope Village Farmer’s Market, the Detroit Community said Rodd Monts, Campaign Outreach Coordinator for the ACLU of Michigan. “It Technology Project, and all the Detroiters who believe we can address crime not by watching each other, but by will disproportionately harm immigrants and communities of color, who already watching out for each other. bear the brunt of over-policing. A city like ours should be taking the lead in resisting The theme for the Riverwise Special Surveillance issue, the use of dangerous and racially biased surveillance technology — not advocating “Detroiters Want To Be Seen, Not Watched,” created by Our for it.” Data Bodies SUBSCRIPTIONS/DONATIONS: The coalition’s letter opposes the facial recognition policy proposed by the DPD on Riverwise magazine is partially grant-funded but we July 25. While the DPD claims it will not use its full surveillance capabilities, the need your help in order to remain free of charge and coalition opposes DPD’s use of this surveillance technology in any form. The coali- advertisement-free. We urge you to donate or subscribe by visiting our donation page at www.riverwisedetroit.org. tion urges the board to follow the lead of San Francisco, Oakland, and Somerville, Any checks must be made out to the Riverwise nonprofit Massachusetts, which have also banned police use of facial recognition technology. fiduciary body, ‘The Boggs Center.’ Visit the Riverwise website to view articles online and keep See full text of this press release release and the letter at up with community-building events happening in vibrant bit.ly/CivilRightsCoalitionOpposesFacialRecognition neighborhood spaces. The coalition includes: the Arab American Civil Rights League (ACRL), Arab CONTACT/SUBMIT ARTICLES, PHOTOS: We also need your articles, letters, photos and artwork Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), ACLU of Michigan, depicting visionary organizing occurring in your CAIR Michigan, Color Of Change, Detroit Community Technology Project, Detroit neighborhood. To contact us or to submit, email: Hispanic Development Center, Detroit Justice Center, Michigan Immigrant Rights [email protected], or send to: 3061 Field Street, Detroit, Michigan, 48214. Center, Michigan United, Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES), and We The People – Michigan. Please contact Riverwise for permission to reprint any articles. RIVERWISE SPECIAL SUMMER EDITION 2019 EDITORIAL Green Lights, Cameras, Distraction RIVERWISE EDITORIAL BOARD This special issue of Riverwise is designed to analysis software propagated by IBM, Microsoft connected to systems with facial recognition. provide a critical perspective on the contro- and Amazon. Other studies have shown that On closer examination this original rationale versy swirling around the Mayor’s plans to facial recognition programs inherently produce was unsupported. The oft-quoted reduction blanket an already highly surveilled city with false matches for people with darker skin. The of crime at the original Project Green Light more high definition cameras, including traffic Detroit Community Technology Project has locations does not paint an accurate picture, lights and facial recognition technologies. also released and circulated their report, “A according to many observers, including Thanks to considerable grassroots organizing Critical Summary of Detroit’s Project Green Attorney Eric Williams from the Detroit Justice and researchers, the effort by city officials Light and Its Greater Context,” with similar Center. In fact, the decrease in criminal activity to quietly expand a at the few original surveillance program Implementing surveillance technology that is racially biased eight PGL locations that endangers all could have been Detroiters has been in a city that is 80% Black is irresponsible. It is reprehensible predicted. There were brought to light. Since at a time when crime has been decreasing in the city and a limited number of the spring, Detroit across the country in recent years. cameras and, because Board of Police PGL locations are Commissioners (BOPC) meetings, despite very findings (bit.ly/DetProjectGreenLight). given priority over non-PGL locations, police little official notice, have been heavily attended So why are the Mayor’s office and the Detroit responded quickly. But as the number of PGL by the public. In April, the BOPC sent out Police Department pushing for more cameras locations increases, the ability to monitor those an email referencing a new proposed policy with the potential to track the faces of locations decreases. There are currently over directive by the Detroit Police Department whomever crosses their path? Why have the 550 PGL locations and that number is growing. (DPD) that asked for “unmanned aerial vehicles Mayor and DPD placed such emphasis on the The Mayor has stated that he hopes to get that (drones), facial recognition and traffic lights distinction between livestream images and still number up to 4,000 in the near future, and and facial recognition.” This alerted digital photos? What are the implications for all of that he would mandate PGL participation for justice and legal activists who had already us if Project Green Light continues to expand, businesses that remain open past certain hours. been scrutinizing the city’s rapidly expanding including to unlimited use of mobile devices? As the camera network expands, police cannot Project Green Light surveillance program. In this special issue of Riverwise we offer our possibly respond quickly. That’s where the Community advocates shared research perspective with the hope that we have a thor- facial recognition software comes in. indicating that camera surveillance has little ough debate, and join other cities across the effect on crime, and the introduction of facial In 2017, the City of Detroit signed a contract country who have already banned police use of recognition technology holds great potential agreement with DataWorks Plus for the facial recognition technology. for abuse by police and government officials. purchase and implementation of FacePlus, the Implementing surveillance technology that Project Green Light: The Pretext facial recognition software. The city specifi- is racially biased is irresponsible. It is repre- for Mass Surveillance cally asked that “the facial recognition work hensible in a city that is 80% Black at a time on at least 100 concurrent real-time video when crime has been decreasing in the city and Project Green Light (PGL) began in 2016 feeds.” FacePlus is a software program that can across the country in recent years. with a substantial amount of publicity and automatically search all the faces that enter the assurance from Mayor Mike Duggan. The camera frame against photos in a statewide Since resistance began in April, the proposed Detroit Police Department argued that violent database of eight million ‘criminal’ photos policy directives no longer reference unmanned crimes were often taking place near businesses and 32 million drivers license pictures. If any aerial vehicles, and DPD has split facial with late hours, such as party stores and gas matches occur, the software alerts the authori- recognition and traffic cameras into separate stations. Cameras placed in the vicinity of ties. directives. The BOPC has already approved those businesses would discourage crime and the traffic cameras, but facial recognition has help identify suspects, we were told. Eight local We must presume that continued expan- not come up for a vote again, because DPD businesses were recruited. Several cameras, the sion renders the PGL program less effective, removed it for further deliberation. ubiquitous green lights, and PGL signs were thereby forcing DPD to rely more heavily