CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Some community groups and others are calling on Chicago to put a moratorium on the use of facial recognition by city agencies, including the police department.Freddy Martinez, executive director of Lucy Parsons Labs, said Tuesday that privacy advocates are concerned about reports that city departments have been accessing facial recognition data for a decade and that a massive database exists.
Interim Police Supt. Charlie Beck said the information is only used when a crime is being investigated and investigators have a face but not a name to work with. It is not used on a “real-time” basis.
Martinez and others say facial recognition has proven inaccurate where people of color are concerned.
Mayor Lightfoot said her administration will create a working group to review the city’s use of the technology."From early on in our administration, we have conferred with a range of stakeholders. We will now formalize those discussions through the creation of a working group consisting of public safety leaders, privacy advocates and other stakeholders to conduct an immediate review of the City’s current use of this technology,” she said in a prepared statement.
