A proposal to expand New Orleans’ use of facial recognition in policing is on hold as City Council members mull over the technology’s impacts.
Zoom in: We’re asking readers what they’d like to see happen next.
The intrigue: The city paused its informal partnership with ProjectNOLA, a privately-owned and managed AI-enhanced facial recognition software, after a Washington Post story earlier this year raised privacy and legal questions.
- But law enforcement officials, including NOPD, say the tech helps them fight crime and find perpetrators. Some, like Louisiana State Police troopers, still get Project NOLA alerts.
- “We have seen the benefit of a real-time immediate alert. Everybody has been able to see the benefit,” NOPD chief Anne Kirkpatrick said of the system earlier this year, according to The Times-Picayune.
For now, a city ordinance that would have explored further facial recognition use is on pause, too…