How surveillance crept up on us

For years, police have spent billions of tax dollars on watching us, tracking us, and recording us. In the largest police department in the country, these surveillance systems were paid for and adopted without the kind of public oversight cities usually require. In the wake of 9/11, the New York Police Department built one of the most sophisticated and omnipresent surveillance systems in the country. And while decisions were being made about what tech to adopt and how much to pay for it, few outside the NYPD were consulted. Not the City Council nor the public. For over a decade, the only paper trail of these purchases were offline, stored in filing cabinets, inaccessible to the public. Today on the show, how the country’s largest police department built its surveillance system, and the fight to get police everywhere to tell us how they’re watching us. Read: Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter Our weekly Indicator round-up newsletter Follow: Instagram TikTok YouTube Facebook Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one.