Re-instating the use of automated facial recognition for criminal investigations in New Orleans is still pending a hearing before the New Orleans City Council, while arguments over the technology continue.
Backers of the technology say cops don't arrest people just because a computer spits out a name.
"That only allows the police and law enforcement to hone their investigation in on an individual suspect," said Metro Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche. "They have to get much more evidence than that to get a judge to sign the arrest warrants."
But Chris Kaiser of the American Civil Liberties Union says even cops can have what's known as "automation bias."
"Technological conclusions influence human decisions," he said. "When you've got somebody calling in a tip, and saying, 'hey, I think I saw a guy in an alley,' that's not really going to be as influential as somebody looking at what this high-tech computer system spits out."
Kaiser references a case in Detroit, where facial recognition identified a potential suspect -- but detectives ignored that an eyewitness said the perpetrator had tattoos, but the suspect identified by the computer did not, and arrested him anyway.
