A new report has revealed that New Orleans police secretly used live facial recognition to identify people on city streets, in apparent violation of a 2022 law intended to limit the technology and protect civil rights.
According to The Washington Post , since 2023 the city has used facial recognition-enabled surveillance cameras through the “Project NOLA” private camera network. These cameras scan every face that passes by and send real-time alerts to officers’ phones when they identify a potential match with individuals on a privately maintained watchlist.
Under the 2022 law, police are permitted to use facial recognition only when investigating violent crimes, and even then, they must first obtain approval from a city “fusion center” staffed with trained analysts.
However, the Post found that officers used the technology in a range of other cases, including at least four arrests for nonviolent offenses. None of these uses were reported to the city council, as the law requires.
In a press release, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana called the secret use of the technology a threat to privacy and civil rights. They worry it could lead to more wrongful arrests and be used to track immigrants, activists, or other vulnerable groups without their knowledge.
“Facial recognition technology poses a direct threat to the fundamental rights of every individual and has no place in our cities,” Alanah Odoms, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said.
The ACLU pointed to the case of Randal Reid, a man wrongfully arrested in Louisiana after facial recognition software matched him to a crime he did not commit. That case used a still image.
The ACLU is calling for a full investigation and wants the program permanently shut down.
In response to the backlash, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said the department will stop using the live alerts until a full review is completed.
“I’m going to turn it off until I am absolutely sure that the use of the app meets all the requirements of the law and policies,” Kirkpatrick told the Post.
