"While New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago have all received significant attention when it comes to police use of surveillance technologies, the small city of New Orleans has for years been the laboratory for a sophisticated surveillance apparatus deployed by the city's police department and other policing bodies. Just last year, New Orleans was in the news as the city considered setting a new surveillance precedent in the United States. First, a privately run camera network, Project N.O.L.A., was exposed for deploying facial recognition technology, including "live use" (meaning Project N.O.L.A. was identifying people in real time as they walked through the city)."
"Then the city flirted with formally approving the use of live facial recognition technology, which would have been a first in the United States. If enacted, live facial recognition technology would allow police to identify individuals as they move about New Orleans in real time. All of this occurred in the months before the Trump administration deployed Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, wielding an array of surveillance technologies, to terrorize and kidnap New Orleans residents. Of course, New Orleans residents have organized and actively fought back against the police and their spying, offering lessons for organizers across the country."
New Orleans City Council and Police Department continue to pursue facial recognition deployment despite strong community opposition and a 2022 ordinance that limited such uses. A private camera network, Project N.O.L.A., deployed facial recognition including live identification in collaboration with police, contravening ordinance limits. The city considered formally authorizing live facial recognition, which would enable real-time identification of people in public. The push occurred amid federal Border Patrol and ICE deployments that used surveillance tools against residents. Residents and community organizations organized resistance to police surveillance and worked to block expanded biometric monitoring across the city.
Read at Truthout
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