City Council Discusses Facial Recognition Technology And Policing
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - There's a bill some are trying to pass about unrestricted facial recognition technology in Pittsburgh. For law enforcement, it's a technique primarily used as an investigative tool.
KDKA found out after lengthy conversations within the last week with various groups, including the public safety department, city council says it will take weeks before anything is decided.
"There's just some technical, legal terms that we have to add in there," said Pittsburgh City Councilman Corey O'Connor.
In a virtual city council meeting this morning, several in the community were weighing in.
"It's a great conversation we're seeing all across the country," said O'Connor.
Councilman O'Connor introduced the legislation. He claims the technology will do more harm than good because it's not where it should be.
"Somebody sent us information from Microsoft and other major companies that say this technology is not quite right," he says.
Overnight, B-PEP, the Black Political Empowerment Project, released a statement strongly criticizing the technology, saying "this technique could be another approach by police which may very well have the possibility of further criminalizing Black people."
As of right now, Pittsburgh Police do not own this technology, however, O'Connor said if that were to change, he wants to be prepared.
This legislation is just one of many bills the council says they plan on introducing to reform the police department as Black Lives Matter protests continue.
