MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Police Department is looking to implement facial recognition technology as a new tool for solving crimes, but the proposal is facing opposition from community members and advocacy groups.
"It is a digital technology that compares photos obtained during criminal investigations with lawfully possessed arrest photos," said Heather Hough, MPD Chief of Staff.
MPD presented their plans to the Equal Rights Commission on Wednesday, emphasizing that the technology would only be used as a lead generator in criminal investigations. Investigators would still need to provide enough evidence for probable cause to issue an arrest or warrant.
Watch: Milwaukee police seek facial recognition tech amid community concerns
"It's a lead generator and I want to make that very clear that that is how our law enforcement agency would use it," Hough said.
However, documents provided at the meeting revealed that MPD is already using this technology in partnership with neighboring police departments, including Wauwatosa PD.
The current plan involves MPD receiving two licenses from Biometrica, a data company, in exchange for 2.5 million mugshots from their database.
This arrangement has raised concerns among residents who attended the public hearing.
"They are essentially selling your biometric data for access to this tool that then they will use to track people without your consent," said Ron Jansen, a Milwaukee resident.
Nineteen different community groups have voiced opposition to the technology right now. Some spoke out on Wednesday citing concerns about misidentification, bias, data storage practices, transparency, and potential federal agency intervention.
Despite these objections, the police department doesn't need approval to implement the technology due to Act 12, which allows department heads to set their own policies. On Wednesday, Hough reiterated several times that they did not have to present but chose to instead.
"Before we move forward with entering into a contract, before we move forward with setting policy, we really need to have these dialogues to make an informed decision," Hough said.
If the policy were to go into effect, common council could block it or amend it by a two-thirds vote or 11 of 15 aldermen.
Some residents question whether the technology will improve community relations with police.
"I am against it, just because of the history of Milwaukee Police here in the city, in regards to minority communities, I think it's a very bad idea. I feel like the technology could be manipulated. I feel like facial recognition could recognize the wrong person, so I just totally against it," said Tamika Harris, a Milwaukee resident.
Harris believes there are better approaches to building trust between police and the community.
"I believe there can be more efforts made into the community to foster better relationships with the police, other than facial recognition," Harris said.
According to MPD officials, the timeline for implementing this technology remains fluid.
This story was reported on-air by Mike Beiermeister and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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