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posted by Fnord666 on Friday August 02 2019, @03:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the think-of-the-children! dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

She Was Arrested at 14. Then Her Photo Went to a Facial Recognition Database.

The New York Police Department has been loading thousands of arrest photos of children and teenagers into a facial recognition database despite evidence the technology has a higher risk of false matches in younger faces.

For about four years, internal records show, the department has used the technology to compare crime scene images with its collection of juvenile mug shots, the photos that are taken at an arrest. Most of the photos are of teenagers, largely 13 to 16 years old, but children as young as 11 have been included.

Elected officials and civil rights groups said the disclosure that the city was deploying a powerful surveillance tool on adolescents — whose privacy seems sacrosanct and whose status is protected in the criminal justice system — was a striking example of the Police Department's ability to adopt advancing technology with little public scrutiny.

Several members of the City Council as well as a range of civil liberties groups said they were unaware of the policy until they were contacted by The New York Times.

Police Department officials defended the decision, saying it was just the latest evolution of a longstanding policing technique: using arrest photos to identify suspects.

"I don't think this is any secret decision that's made behind closed doors," the city's chief of detectives, Dermot F. Shea, said in an interview. "This is just process, and making sure we're doing everything to fight crime."


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Friday August 02 2019, @06:20PM (3 children)

    How about requiring the police and prosecutors to actually get it right, rather than just getting *someone*?

    To clarify, this means that when police and prosecutors arrest/try the *wrong* person, they are penalized. For a first offense, loss of vacation days and a note in their personnel record that they be passed over for promotion once.

    For a second offense, suspension without pay and permanently blocking them from promotion.

    For a third offense, termination. No review, no mitigating circumstances, just GTFO.

    We do have an adversarial system, but as a general rule, the prosecutors and police have nearly unlimited resources, while defendants usually don't. As such, we need to provide incentives for police and prosecutors to get it right, not just convict whoever they decide is guilty.

    As for the use of facial "recognition" algorithms, how about the police actually do some police work to find miscreants, rather than just focusing on those whose photos they have on file? I know, I know, that's just crazy talk. I mean, it's not like we pay these people to do this job -- oh, wait.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
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  • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday August 02 2019, @08:14PM (2 children)

    by RS3 (6367) on Friday August 02 2019, @08:14PM (#874815)

    Absolutely.

    I mean, it's not like we pay these people to do this job -- oh, wait.

    I think even worse is that they are society's most trusted.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by NotSanguine on Friday August 02 2019, @08:28PM (1 child)

      I mean, it's not like we pay these people to do this job -- oh, wait.

      I think even worse is that they are society's most trusted.

      Not sure where you're from, but when I was a kid the police were considered to be the largest and best-armed gang, nothing more.

      They still are that, not sure who thinks they are "society's most trusted."

      Police should be held to a *higher* standard than average citizens, since they are authorized to use force to make arrests. The way things are, they are held to a lower standard. That's ass-backward, if you ask me.

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
      • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday August 03 2019, @01:48PM

        by RS3 (6367) on Saturday August 03 2019, @01:48PM (#875123)

        NotSanguine, you've misunderstood me before, and here yet again.

        I was writing in the context that a good, proper society needs police, and they need to be some of the most trustworthy people in society... because, who is going to police the police? Not an easy task, unless and until we have video cameras blanketing the earth. I can't help that a large percentage of our society are living with their heads in the sand.

        For years I've said and firmly believe that police and all in government need to be held to a higher standard. My brother, who is a lawyer, explained to me many years ago when he was in law school studying philosophy of law and society, that government wants and needs to protect itself, so effectively people in government are generally held to a lower standard. They of course will deny that point.

        Fortunately people are video recording police bad behavior, but even with video evidence the courts are letting bad cops go free.

        So now what?