New police tech, old concerns 

Happy Tuesday, Charm City. Today's questions are inspired by both last night's premiere of "We Own This City," David Simon's new HBO miniseries that draws from journalist Justin Fenton's eponymous chronicle of the Baltimore Police Department's scandal-ridden Gun Trace Task Force, and the recurring drone of police choppers above my house.

So far, the show only occasionally touches on policing tech. But the few times it did call to mind the ways that police departments around the US, including in Baltimore, have embraced novel technology — and the mixed results and impassioned debate this tech inspires. 

Supporters of certain technologies, from CompStat to facial recognition software, say they help law enforcement perform more efficiently and better target crime. Critics argue that this tech risks perpetuating racist biases and violating civil liberties without meaningfully addressing the root causes of crime. 

For those reading: What are your feelings about how police currently use technology? Do you fall on one side or another? Can technological advancements actually keep us safer, or do they simply enable new versions of old police violence? Let us know by replying to this email or sending a note to baltimore@technical.ly.

— Technical.ly editor Sameer Rao (sameer@technical.ly)