A key vote is set for today on New Orleans police and the use of controversial facial recognition software.
The Cantrell administration, business and crime fighting groups have come out is support of the tech.
"The women and men of the NOPD need to have every tool available at their disposal in order to keep our residents, businesses and visitors safe," Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a news release. "Police departments across the country are reaping the benefits of facial recognition technology, and the time is critical for NOPD to join their fellow public safety agencies and embrace this technology in order to increase public safety and to take criminals off the street."
She released the statement after she was a no-show at a news conference at New Orleans City Hall where a coalition of supporters spoke out.
“To reduce violent crime in our city, we must exhaust all methods available to us that will allow the NOPD to do their job,” said Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Coordination Commissioner Tenisha Stevens. “Today, several business and community leaders are standing with the Cantrell Administration in support of this critical surveillance."
Supporters insisted that the tech is constitutional and can be used safely, with federally approved safeguards.
“The Business Community Crime Technology Task Force has worked to identify, assist with and implement technology solutions within the NOPD and the criminal justice system as a whole,” said Barret Conrad of the Business Technology Community. “This ordinance will help make police officers more effective in solving crimes making our streets safer for children and all citizens while protecting our rights."
Opponents say facial recognition software is intrusive and unreliable, especially when it comes to correctly identifying Black suspects.
The City Council previously passed a ban on using the software amid those concerns.
The America Civil Liberties Union says, "Face recognition surveillance presents an unprecedented threat to our privacy and civil liberties. It gives governments, companies, and individuals the power to spy on us wherever we go — tracking our faces at protests, political rallies, places of worship, and more. The ACLU is taking to the courts, streets, legislatures, city councils, and even corporate boardrooms to defend our rights against the growing dangers of this unregulated surveillance technology."
A Harvard University report also insists, "The current implementation of these technologies involves significant racial bias, particularly against Black Americans. Even if accurate, face recognition empowers a law enforcement system with a long history of racist and anti-activist surveillance and can widen pre-existing inequalities."
The Council meets at 10:00am. The agenda says that this item will be taken up at approximately 11:00am.
