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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: 2) by Arik on Saturday August 03 2019, @12:48AM

    by Arik (4543) on Saturday August 03 2019, @12:48AM (#874902) Journal
    "I think you can call on state cops if the locals are giving you trouble"

    Sometimes, but it depends on the specifics and may vary by state. Some states have a 'State Police' force that at least in theory would have jurisdiction to investigate local cops. Others have a 'Highway Patrol' that probably doesn't have any such jurisdiction, but they may have e.g. a separate 'State Bureau of Investigation' that could do this instead.

    "Prosecuting criminal cops needs to be easier, especially when there is hard evidence. There have been too many cases of cops being let off, if they're prosecuted at all."

    Absolutely, this is that culture of impunity, that 'thin blue wall' bullcrap. A lot of people will literally let cops get away with murder, because it makes them feel safer. It shouldn't, though, it just destroys the respect for law that made civil society possible.

    "The cops do what.ever.they.want and the poor "innocent" person is SOL (unless they're RICH.)"

    You get all the justice you can afford. Usually.

    "Congress could fix it,"

    But they're far too busy expressing their outrage at mean tweets to deal with that stuff.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
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