The Cantrell Administration says one way to combat surging violent crime would be expanding the NOPD’s surveillance capabilities. To make that happen city leaders have begun a full-court press to get the City Council to amend a December 2020 ordinance that put limits on tech like facial recognition.
“That is a tool that is out of our toolbox now that is very important for us to be able to present a good, viable case,” NOPD Chief Shaun Ferguson said Wednesday afternoon with Mayor Latoya Cantrell, who echoed his comments. “You’ve heard the DA, as well as myself, say before technology is needed to solve these crimes and hold individuals accountable.”
Ferguson would again reiterate the need for loosened surveillance regulations Thursday during a joint news conference with DA Jason Williams.
The 2020 ordinance banned city use of facial recognition technology, predictive policing software that uses computer models to reportedly determine where crime is most likely to happen and who is most likely to commit it, certain cellphone tracking equipment, and characteristics tracking software that tracks individuals based on factors like size, shape, color, and more.
Supporters of that 2020 ordinance say there are good reasons why it was originally passed on a 6-1 vote just over a year ago; it’s racially biased, invasive, and distracts from what they say are the socio-economic roots of crime. The Eye on Surveillance Coalition, which spearheaded the 2020 push for limits on surveillance, released a statement in opposition to the recent push to amend the ordinance.
“These systems have a disturbing record of racial bias and inaccuracy that endangers people of color and marginalized groups. Many studies have proven that facial recognition technology is dangerous, costly, and doesn’t make us safer.”
Eye on Surveillance cited a 2019 National Institutes of Standards and Technology study on a range of facial recognition software that showed Blacks and Asians were 10 to 100 times more likely to be falsely identified than whites were. They say this leads to increased misidentification of suspects and wrongful arrests of Blacks.
It may not be long before a proposal to amend that recently passed surveillance ordinance is put in front of the City Council. Mayor Latoya Cantrell mentioned she is working with new Councilman Eugene Green to make it happen. Chief Ferguson believes this technology, if properly utilized, could help turn the tide of rising violent crime.
“We are working on a policy, and we have a policy now that we want to present, to ask the Council to maybe codify which will put some accountability measurements in place so that facial recognition or any other technology won’t be abused,” said Ferguson.
