A look at facial recognition tech in policing
Image: US GAO
Over the past few years, police departments across the US have increased their use of biometric surveillance measures like facial recognition. But some lawmakers and rights groups are cautioning against widespread use of the technology, warning of potential issues with accuracy and privacy.
📰 A recent accuracy example… Last week, NOLA.com reported that police in Louisiana and Georgia recently arrested a Black man based on a false facial recognition match, holding him in prison for nearly a week before admitting he was the wrong person.
And that’s not the only instance. Since 2019, at least three other men – each of them also Black – have been falsely arrested in the US due to facial recognition tech, which tends to misidentify people of color more often than white folks.
Now, onto the privacy concerns. Advocates usually focus on how intimate personal data (aka your face) is, for the most part, collected by facial-recognition companies without consent – and unlike passwords, phone numbers, or email addresses, this type of data can’t be easily altered after a potential hack.
🇺🇸 The scope: From 2019 through 2021, about two dozen US state or local governments passed laws restricting the use of facial recognition technology. But last year, some areas walked back these restrictions – and for different reasons.
- Homicide reports in New Orleans rose 67% in the two years after the city banned police from using facial recognition, Reuters reports, leading local officials to overturn the ban last year.
- Virginia and California previously had statewide bans on the use of facial recognition tech by police, but both states reversed course in 2022 and currently allow the practice (according to many lawmakers, the initial blanket ban was to buy the gov’t time to implement common sense usage guidelines).
📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, widespread use of facial recognition technology by police would be a _____ for society.
See a 360° view of what media pundits are saying →
Sprinkles from those against police using facial recognition
- Some commentators argue that allowing police access to facial recognition technology opens the door for a wide range of potential abuses, and leaves citizens with little or no recourse if they’re falsely identified.
- Others contend that facial recognition technology has a well-known bias against racial minorities – which is the exact opposite thing America needs to be introducing into its police departments right now.
- “Facial recognition technology is a direct assault on privacy and civil liberties” –Tamar Lerer, New Jersey Star-Ledger
- “Facial recognition technology victimizes people of color. It must be regulated” –Ted Liu, LA Times
- “Time to End Police Use of Facial Recognition Tech” –The Virginia-Pilot and Daily Press Editorial Board
Sprinkles from those in favor of police using facial recognition
- Some commentators argue that facial recognition technology has more than proven its worth since police departments across America first adopted it in the early 2010s.
- Others contend that facial recognition technology isn’t that different from using DNA technology to track down criminals and exonerate innocent persons – and nobody seems to have a big issue with police doing that.
- “How Facial Recognition Makes You Safer” –New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill
- “Facial recognition technology is a valuable tool” –Hoan Ton That, Orange County Register
- “Facial recognition could make us safer — and less free” –WaPo Editorial Board
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