The findings are notable beyond DC because they add to the evidence that many cities have quietly put bureaucratic algorithms to work across their departments, where they can contribute to decisions that affect citizens’ lives.Government agencies often turn to automation in hopes of adding efficiency or objectivity to bureaucratic processes, but it’s often difficult for citizens to know they are at work, and some systems have been found to discriminate and lead to decisions that ruin human lives.“More often than not, automated decisionmaking systems have disproportionate impacts on Black communities,” Winters says.The project found evidence that automated traffic-enforcement cameras are disproportionately placed in neighborhoods with more Black residents.Cities with significant Black populations have recently played a central role in campaigns against municipal algorithms, particularly in policing."