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New Orleans Police Claim Not To Use Facial Recognition Tech. Emails Reveal That’s Not Totally True.
The city outsources facial recognition work to other Louisiana law enforcement departments
The City of New Orleans has been adamant that it “does not use facial recognition software.” Though there is no city ordinance outright banning the technology, city officials often repeat that claim, and have even included a line in the privacy policy of its Real-Time Crime Center surveillance hub stating “Facial recognition is not utilized by the System.”
But that is an incomplete picture of how facial recognition technology is being used in New Orleans. Now, court evidence reveals that Louisiana state police officers can and have utilized a searchable facial recognition database to assist New Orleans police in their investigations. In at least one NOPD investigation, facial recognition was used to identify and indict a suspect.
In December 2018, a New Orleans police detective investigating a mugging in the city’s French Quarter distributed a wanted poster to the department’s law enforcement partners around the state — standard practice for New Orleans police investigators.
In at least one NOPD investigation, facial recognition…
