In an interview with the verge, one NYPD detective states “No one has ever been arrested on the basis of a facial recognition match alone. As with any lead, further investigation is always needed to develop probable cause to arrest. The NYPD has been deliberate and responsible in its use of facial recognition technology." A Georgetown law report disagrees with this NYPD assessment, citing specific instances such as a case where an officer arrested a suspect after text messaging a witness “Is this the guy…?" with an attached algorithmically matched photograph. Another arrest was made after a lineup, where the arrested individual was placed into the lineup purely due to being selected by a facial recognition algorithm. In 2019 the MTA began testing the use of facial recognition. X-ray surveillance The NYPD has declined to describe how they employ their X-ray vans, stating that any information about past uses could give terrorists adequate knowledge to foil future missions. However, probing done by an investigative journalist from ProPublica has revealed potential public health concerns relating the backscatter X-ray technology. After a 3-year legal battle with ProPublica and a brief from the NYCLU, the NYPD is now required to share any documents detailing the health and safety risks associated with deploying the vans around the city. The NYCLU speculates that the vans cost between $729,000 to $825,000 each. Genetic sampling The NYPD maintains a database of genetic information, collected from individuals who have been convicted of a crime, arrested, or questioned by police. Genetic material from the database can be collected from objects touched by individuals being questioned such as cigarettes and cups. The database has 82,473 genetic profiles, growing 29% between 2017 and 2019. The legal aid society claims that 31,400 of those profiles came from individuals not convicted of a crime. In 2016, the NYPD collected hundreds of genetic samples from individuals in the region around Howard Beach, Queens in an attempt to solve the murder of Karina Vetrano. Social media monitoring The NYPD follows social media accounts and stores posts of interest offline, retaining them for years after the initial collection. In one case the department collected suspected gang members' Facebook posts for four years before making an arrest. Drones Between April and June 2014, the NYPD purchased 14 drones at a cost of $480,000 from Chinese-based company DJI technology equipped with 4K resolution cameras. Of these drones, two