Over 40 Rights Groups Urge Mamdani to Block NYPD From Buying & Using AI-Equipped Mass Surveillance Tool

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 12, 2026

Over 40 Rights Groups Urge Mamdani to Block NYPD From Buying & Using AI-Equipped Mass Surveillance Tool 

Following voters’ rejection of government and corporate surveillance, NYC Mayor must block advanced cell-site simulators

New York, NY – A coalition of 45 advocacy and legal organizations today called on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to prohibit the NYPD from procuring or utilizing AI-equipped cell-site simulators, citing the threat they pose to the safety and constitutional rights of New Yorkers. Two weeks ago, in response to public outcry, the city scrapped plans to acquire this technology through a no-bid contract with the Israeli company Cognyte, but the NYPD still intends to buy the AI-powered surveillance technology through an open bidding process that Cognyte can participate in.

In the letter to Mayor Mamdani, Justice Committee, Center for Constitutional Rights, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Drug Policy Alliance, Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), Jewish Voice for Peace, Legal Aid Society, Make the Road New York, New York Civil Liberties Union, and other national and local organizations detail the problems with mobile AI-enhanced cell site simulators, which can be mounted on a drone or simply carried in a backpack. Their behavior analysis capabilities, which are entirely undisclosed, compound the threats to privacy and other rights. In addition to demanding that the mayor block their use, the organizations urge him to prohibit the NYPD and other agencies from contracting with companies complicit in human rights abuses and from using all digital surveillance technologies without a warrant. 

“The NYPD has a long history of racist policing and abusing surveillance technologies - and this particular technology is AI-turbocharged, making it even more intrusive and dangerous. If this moves forward, we should expect that it will be used as a hyper-drive dragnet to violate the rights of immigrants, Black and brown communities, LGBTQ people, those exercising their first amendment rights, and other New Yorkers,” said Loyda Colón, Executive Director of Justice Committee. “It’s good that the administration walked back the original sole-source contract with Cognyte, and we hope the Mayor seizes the opportunity to slam the door on the NYPD getting and using more unnecessary surveillance toys that advance an Orwellian police state instead of making New Yorkers safer.” 

Cell site simulators, also called stingrays, mimic cell towers and capture data from every nearby device. Cognyte’s AI-equipped version, FalcoNet, has reportedly been used by Florida officials to spy on Haitian immigrants, and governments around the world have used it to persecute dissidents, journalists, and LGBTQIA+ people. The over 40 groups believe this technology would be a dangerous weapon in the hands of the NYPD, which has a long history of racist policing, secrecy, and abuses against the New Yorkers.

“The NYPD’s plans to buy and deploy portable AI-equipped cell-site simulators raise grave concerns about the Department’s commitment to transparency and to New Yorkers’ privacy,” said Medha Raman, Policy Counsel at the NYCLU. “Cell-site stimulators are highly intrusive dragnet surveillance that require a warrant. The NYPD’s flirtation with Cognyte, which prompted blowback because of the tech’s secret AI capabilities, should not continue through an open bidding process. For the NYPD to even consider deploying such dangerous technology that’s tied to scores of human rights violations is reckless and puts New Yorkers’ rights at risk.”

Between 2008 and 2016, the NYPD deployed cell site simulators more than 1000 times, usually without a warrant. A 2017 Brooklyn state court ruled that the NYPD’s warrantless use of stingrays was unconstitutional, and department guidelines now say investigators must obtain a warrant “in most cases.” 

"Cell-site simulators can sweep up information from phones belonging to everyone in an area, including people suspected of no wrongdoing. They can also interfere with the cellular service of any devices within their range," said Jerome Greco, Director of the Digital Forensics Unit at The Legal Aid Society. "Adding undisclosed AI capabilities would deepen that surveillance while making it harder to understand or challenge how the technology is used. Given the NYPD’s previous history of warrantless deployments, the City should stop this procurement and prohibit any future attempts at obtaining any similar technology."

“The NYPD has demonstrated again and again that it cannot be trusted to protect the civil rights of New Yorkers,” said Sophie Ellman-Golan, Director of Strategic Communications at JFREJ. “In 2016, the NYPD's own Inspector General found that the agency routinely broke the law and its guidelines when conducting surveillance. This technology can only supercharge this pattern of lawlessness, at a considerable financial cost. New York cannot be the vibrant, open society we all take pride in while also expanding the surveillance state and militarizing the NYPD. We are grateful that the Mamdani Administration halted Cognyte’s no-bid contract, and we urge the administration to further protect New Yorkers’ rights by barring the NYPD from using AI-equipped cell-site simulators.”

The issue arises in New York as the use of AI-enhanced surveillance tools is sparking widespread opposition nationwide, as evidenced by the many lawsuits and laws opposing Flock cameras. Mayor Mamdani has, in other contexts, spoken out against such tools; he supports, for example, a bill to prohibit biometric data collection in public spaces. 

“It is disturbing but not unexpected that the NYPD sought to utilize no-bid procurement exceptions to expand their dangerous digital surveillance capacity,” said Brad Parker, associate director of policy at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “After 13 years of stop-and-frisk monitoring, the data shows the NYPD would rather perpetuate systemic violence than address abusive practices and hold officers accountable for illegal racial profiling. Commissioner Tisch must abandon this effort to enhance NYPD’s ability to violate New Yorkers’ constitutional and human rights.”

“We don’t need safeguards for this technology. We need to reject it altogether,” said Anthony Feliciano, VP of Community Mobilization at Housing Works. “The history of policing tells us who will bear the consequences when government gains new powers to watch and track people. New Yorkers should not be paying for our own surveillance. Invest in housing. Invest in healthcare. Invest in our communities. Not one penny for technology designed to watch us.”

Additional Quotes

“It’s not just Cognyte: NYPD should never use cell-site simulators from any company, at any price,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Advocacy & Community Engagement Manager Corinne Worthington. “These tools make it all too easy for police to embed into protests and scoop up the data not only of participants, but any passerby. NYPD is still bidding on our civil rights, and the Mamdani administration must go further to stop them.”

“A surveillance state is not something that happens overnight. It is built one intrusion at a time, often in the name of public safety,” said Allen Roskoff, President of Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. “New Yorkers should not have to surrender their privacy and constitutional rights simply because they walk down the street carrying a phone.”