The New Orleans City Council voted 4-2 in favor of letting police use facial recognition software to help investigators identify criminal suspects. The vote follows months of contentious debate about the technology's reliability and constitutional use of it by law enforcement.
Opponents said the technology is intrusive, and is less effective at picking out the identity of Black individuals.
Supporters said it is not any different from an eyewitness identifying a suspect in a lineup, and said police would still have to gather enough evidence to get a judge to agree to an arrest warrant.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson wanted the council to pass the ordinance, saying it would help the manpower-depleted department fight crime more effectively. Police officials say the U.S. Justice Department and the federal police consent decree monitor have approve the department's plans to use the technology.
