New Report Helps Journalists Dig Deeper Into Police Surveillance Technology

Why It Matters

By improving media scrutiny of police‑tech contracts, the guide helps protect taxpayer dollars and civil liberties while pressuring lawmakers to demand transparent, evidence‑based procurement.

Key Takeaways

• Report guides journalists on police tech scrutiny
• Highlights misleading marketing and inflated effectiveness claims
• Provides questions to uncover costs, privacy impacts
• Emphasizes need for public oversight and accountability
• Links to EFF resources for tech mapping

Pulse Analysis

The market for police surveillance equipment has exploded into a multi‑billion‑dollar industry, driven by aggressive vendor pitches that promise crime‑fighting miracles and algorithmic fairness. Yet the sector remains largely unregulated, with municipalities often adopting tools based on glossy brochures rather than independent performance data. This lack of oversight creates fiscal waste and erodes public trust, as communities fund technologies whose real impact on safety and bias remains unproven.

Journalists play a pivotal role in exposing these gaps, but they frequently receive only press releases that echo vendor narratives. The "Selling Safety" guide addresses this challenge by breaking down common sales tactics, offering a checklist of probing questions, and highlighting where to find verifiable evidence. By teaching reporters to interrogate cost structures, data retention policies, and efficacy studies, the report empowers the press to produce accountability stories that inform citizens and pressure agencies to demand transparent procurement processes.

For policymakers and civil‑rights advocates, the guide underscores the urgency of establishing standards and oversight mechanisms for law‑enforcement technology. It complements EFF’s Street‑Level Surveillance hub and Atlas of Surveillance, which map deployments nationwide, providing a data‑driven foundation for legislative action. As municipalities grapple with budget constraints and public scrutiny, the report’s insights can steer investments toward tools that demonstrably enhance safety without compromising privacy or civil liberties.