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New Orleans Police Used Real-Time Facial Recognition Tracking Despite Ban

HeadlineMay 20, 2025

In Louisiana, the New Orleans Police Department has reportedly paused its sweeping use of real-time facial recognition technology amid massive backlash following a Washington Post exposé. New Orleans police reportedly used a private network of more than 200 surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology to constantly monitor public streets, with no oversight and despite a 2022 city ordinance that limited the use of facial recognition by police. The technology was provided by the nonprofit Project NOLA, which operates out of the University of New Orleans. The Post exposé said the surveillance method is “without a known precedent in any major American city that may violate municipal guardrails around use of the technology.”

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