The news is out: [The Los Angeles Police Department has on numerous occasions over the years downplayed its use of facial recognition technology, publicly claimed that the department doesn’t use it at all, and denied the existence of related documents that, if they exist, the public is legally entitled to see.
But new records obtained by the Los Angeles Times revealed that the department has used the technology widely for more than a decade: 29,817 times between November 6, 2009, and September 11 of this year — including 3,750 instances since February.
While the LAPD doesn’t have its own facial recognition software, 330 people within the department currently have access to the Los Angeles County Regional Identification System (LACRIS), a platform operated by LA county that relies on technology from DataWorks Plus, according to the LA Times.
The extent to which the LAPD uses facial recognition, according to these new records, contradicts what the department has said publicly, both when questioned by reporters and when asked to turn over documents via public records requests.]
Give a Rolex to a pig; it will oink it for weeks.
