Crime Rises And Improved Technology, Face Recognition System Re-applied A Number Of Cities In The US

JAKARTA – The facial recognition system has reappeared in the United States. This happened after the police continued to get threats and a surge in crime there. In addition, there is an increasingly intense lobbying from the developers of this system in the US parliament.

Previously, this system had received strong protests from US citizens because it was considered to be racially biased. So that facial recognition is considered forbidden to apply.

Virginia will in July lift a ban on the use of facial recognition by local police a year after approving it, and California and the city of New Orleans next month will also approve the use of facial recognition systems.

Homicide reports in New Orleans are up 67% over the past two years compared to the previous two years. Police say they need every possible tool to detect crimes.

"Technology is needed to solve these crimes and to hold individuals accountable," Superintendent of Police, Shaun Ferguson, told reporters as he called on the city council to lift a ban on facial recognition systems that took effect last year.

Attempts to enforce a ban on facial recognition themselves have faced resistance in jurisdictions large and small from New York and Colorado to West Lafayette, Indiana. Even Vermont, the last state to have a nearly 100% ban on police use of facial recognition, scrapped its law last year to allow investigations of child sex crimes.

From 2019 to 2021, about two dozen US state or local governments have passed laws restricting facial recognition. Studies have found technology to be less effective at identifying black people, and the Black Lives Matter anti-police protests provide the right momentum for the argument.

But ongoing research by the federal government's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has shown significant industry advances in facial recognition accuracy. A Department of Homeland Security test published last month found slight variations in the accuracy of skin color and gender.

"There is growing interest in policy approaches that address concerns about technology while ensuring it is used in a limited, accurate, and non-discriminatory way that benefits society," said Jake Parker, senior director of government relations at the Security Industry Association lobby group, as quoted by Reuters.

A shift in sentiment could bring its members, including Clearview AI, Idemia and Motorola Solutions, a larger share of the $124 billion state and local governments spend on policing each year. It's a shame the portion of the budget dedicated to technology isn't closely tracked.

Getting new business with police is increasingly important for Clearview, which this week settled a privacy lawsuit over images collected from social media by agreeing not to sell its flagship system to the US private sector.

Clearview, which helps police find matches in social media data, said it welcomes "any regulation that helps the public get the most out of facial recognition technology while limiting potential harm." IDemia and Motorola, which provided matches from a government database, declined to comment.

Although recent studies have eased MPs' objections, the debate is still ongoing. The General Services Administration, which oversees federal contractors, said in a report released last month that major facial recognition tools disproportionately failed to match African Americans in its tests. The agency did not respond to a request to provide details about the test.