Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman has banned the use of facial recognition technology that the department has previously used to solve homicide and sexual assault cases, caving to a small cabal of angry activists who slammed him for hours at a Fire and Police Commission meeting.
That decision, and another limiting police pursuits, ignited concern and disappointment at the Milwaukee Police Association, which says MPD leadership has made decisions “that significantly limit the tools available to Milwaukee police officers: the implementation of new restrictions on vehicle pursuits and the voluntary moratorium on the use and acquisition of facial recognition technology.”
In a PowerPoint presentation last April, obtained by Wisconsin Right Now, the department advocated for the technology, citing homicide and sexual assault cases that were solved as a result; the department has used the technology in the past but had to seek help from other departments to do so. MPD was seeking to purchase its own technology to expand the use of the investigative tool…