There was a critical vote Thursday at the New Orleans City Council on the utilization of facial recognition and other policing software. There were a number of people from the business community as well as regular citizens that spoke in favor of these policing tools for the New Orleans Police Department. There were a lot of different points made from Council members in opposition who were trying to defeat the bill which I found amusing, but in the end, the ordinance passed 4-2. I spoke with Rafael Goyeneche, President of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, to get his take on passage of the ordinance and the details of how they’ll be used by the NOPD.
In the City Council’s investigation ahead of their vote, there were a lot of assumptions made that were way out in left field. What were your thoughts on this ordinance passing?
I think it was a win for the general public, for public safety, and a win for the NOPD. The ban on the use of these technologies was implemented in 2020. It continued to be an impediment to the police department and became a bigger problem. Since 2020, the numbers of officers have declined, as our crime rate increased. It's been two and a half years since the rug was ripped out from underneath the NOPD. It was put back underneath their feet.and I attribute that to the public voicing their support for the NOPD to have access to this technology.
Councilwoman Leslie Harris says everyone is telling her that NOPD needs this and that facial recognition is the silver bullet to the city’s crime problem. I don't know about you, but I've never heard anyone say that. Based on my experiences there are no silver bullets in law enforcement, not now, not ever.
The hearing went on for nearly four hours and there was a lot of misinformation, a lot of fear mongering going on. The bottom line is these technologies have been used and are being used by agencies that are working with the NOPD. The FBI, ATF, Louisiana State Police, DEA, and the U.S. Marshall Service all use these tools… to say the NOPD can't utilize the technologies that their partners bring to the table makes absolutely no sense. I think the public recognized that and overwhelmingly support this ordinance because it's commonsensical… These tools are something an officer won’t use every day, just like they don’t use their gun, handcuffs, or body armor every day.
Throughout the council meeting it became evident that not a single person on the council actually understands how a police investigation works or how these technologies weave into investigative strategies.
The benefit in having this technology is so the police don't have to show their hand. They can identify who a suspect is with facial recognition technology, but that match is not probable cause for arrest. It's just the beginning of allowing the police department to identify a potential suspect. It's just a starting point in the investigation, not the end of one.
