City posts final surveillance policy for gun detection scanners

Gun detection scanners are coming to the New York City subway system. Where and when are questions still being kept somewhat under wraps by the New York City Police Department, but a newly published final use policy for the controversial technology solidifies statements from the mayor and NYPD this week that the pilot program is imminent, if not already underway.

A final impact and use policy – something required for new police surveillance technologies – was posted online sometime on Thursday. The Daily News reported earlier this week that the final policy had not been posted within the required time period after a draft policy was released and available for public comment, even as city officials teased the imminent launch of gun scanners made by Evolv Technology. 

Though there don’t appear to be major functional changes between the draft policy and final policy, the latter says that the technology will be piloted at areas where the NYPD already does bag checks. If an individual is carrying a bag or container, that will be inspected physically, while the individual goes through the weapons screener.

Evolv has marketed its tool as being able to detect not just guns but many knives and some explosives. But at several points throughout the NYPD’s nine-page impact and use policy, the term “potential weapon” has been changed to “firearm,” suggesting that the NYPD may be focused just on guns.

The release of the final policy hasn’t allayed advocates’ concerns, however. The Legal Aid Society and New York Civil Liberties Union said in a press release on Friday that they plan to take legal action if the scanners are deployed. “Subjecting New Yorkers to suspicionless searches by the police every time they need to ride the subway is a violation of their Fourth Amendment rights,” Daniel Lambright, senior staff attorney at the NYCLU said in the statement. 

Jennvine Wong, a supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society, said on Friday that they’re still assessing whether they would pursue additional legal action based on late filing of the final use policy.

Advocates have also criticized and questioned the efficacy of the technology made by Evolv. The company is the subject of several lawsuits and probes by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission. A spokesperson for Evolv told City & State in March that they are “happy to cooperate with all regulators who inquire about our products.”

The NYPD and the city have been mum about exactly where the rollout of the pilot will happen, but have said the location will vary. There will be no cost to the pilot, which will last for 30 days, according to City Hall.

Earlier on Thursday, NYPD spokesperson Tarik Sheppard said that the piloting of the scanners would begin at one station where the NYPD already does bag checks, probably beginning Thursday or Friday. Sheppard suggested that he knew which station the pilot would start in but declined to disclose it. “Well, when you really think about it, it may defeat the purpose of us trying to figure out, does it work or not,” he said in an interview on Pix11 on Thursday. “So we want to just make sure that we don't put it out there just yet. It’s still in its testing phase, it's still a pilot.”

On Friday morning, several NYPD officers at the Times Square station said they had no idea when or where the gun scanners might be deploying.