New Orleans called out for sketchiest use of facial recognition yet in the US

New Orleans police have been controversially using live feeds and facial recognition technology to identify suspects without proper legal oversight, bypassing city regulations designed to prevent false arrests. Their system, which relies on over 200 cameras linked to officers' phones, automatically detected potential matches in real time but often wasn't reported back to the city council or used for specific violent crime investigations as mandated. This practice has led to four nonviolent arrests and accusations of misuse by Nathan Freed Wessler, prompting the police to pause the program amid growing backlash over its ethical implications.