Crimes and Courts
Why some cities and states balk at face recognition tech
Published
6 years agoon

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Police departments around the U.S. are asking citizens to trust them to use facial recognition software as another handy tool in their crime-fighting toolbox. But some lawmakers — and even some technology giants — are hitting the brakes.
Are fears of an all-seeing, artificially intelligent security apparatus overblown? Not if you look at China, where advancements in computer vision applied to vast networks of street cameras have enabled authorities to track members of ethnic minority groups for signs of subversive behavior.
American police officials and their video surveillance industry partners contend that won’t happen here. They are pushing back against a movement by cities, states and federal legislators to ban or curtail the technology’s use. And the efforts aren’t confined to typical bastions of liberal activism that enacted bans this year: San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and the Boston suburbs of Somerville and Brookline.
Take the western Massachusetts city of Springfield, a former manufacturing hub where a majority of the 155,000 residents are Latino or black, and where police brutality and misconduct lawsuits have cost the city millions of dollars. Springfield police say they have no plans to deploy facial recognition systems, but some city councilors are moving to block any future government use of the technology anyway.
At an October hearing on the subject, Springfield City Councilor Orlando Ramos said he doesn’t want to take any chances. “It would only lead to more racial discrimination and racial profiling,” he said, citing studies that found higher error rates for facial recognition software used to identify women and people with darker skin tones.
“I’m a black woman and I’m dark,” another Springfield councilor, Tracye Whitfield, told the city’s police commissioner, Cheryl Clapprood, who is white. “I cannot approve something that’s going to target me more than it will target you.”
Clapprood defended the technology and asked the council to trust her to pursue it carefully. “The facial recognition technology does not come along and drop a net from the sky and carry you off to prison,” she said, noting that it could serve as a useful investigative tool by flagging wanted suspects.
The council hasn’t yet acted, and the Springfield mayor has threatened to veto the proposal that Ramos plans to re-introduce in January.
Similar debates across the country are highlighting racial concerns and dueling interpretations of the technology’s accuracy.
“I wish our leadership would look at the science and not at the hysteria,” said Lancaster, California, Mayor R. Rex Parris, whose city north of Los Angeles is working to install more than 10,000 streetlight cameras Parris says could monitor known pedophiles and gang members. “There are ways to build in safeguards.”
Research suggests that facial recognition systems can be accurate, at least under ideal conditions. A review of the industry’s leading facial recognition algorithms by the National Institute of Standards and Technology found they were more than 99% accurate when matching high-quality head shots to a database of other frontal poses.
But trying to identify a face from a video feed — a potentially useful technique for detectives — can cause accuracy rates to plunge. NIST found that recognition accuracy could fall below 10% when using ceiling-mounted cameras commonly found in stores and government buildings.
The agency hasn’t studied the performance of facial recognition on body camera footage, although experts generally believe that its often-jumpy video will render the technique even less reliable.
In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a temporary ban on police departments using facial recognition with body cameras. Some other states have similar restrictions.
While California’s three-year moratorium was opposed by law enforcement groups, companies that provide video-surveillance equipment have mostly reacted with shrugs. Many businesses were already moving carefully before subjecting themselves to the legal, ethical and publicity risks of a technology that is facing backlash from privacy, civil liberties and racial justice advocates, not to mention bipartisan concern in Congress.
Axon, which supplies body-worn cameras to most of California’s big cities and is the biggest provider nationwide, had already formed an AI ethics board of outside experts that concluded facial recognition technology isn’t yet reliable enough to justify its use on police cameras. False identification could lead someone to be hurt or killed, said Axon CEO Rick Smith.
Even if facial recognition software was perfectly accurate, Smith said in an interview, the ability to track people’s whereabouts raises constitutional and privacy concerns. “Do we want everybody who walks near a police officer to get their face identified and logged in a database?” he said.
Microsoft last year turned down an unnamed California police agency’s request to equip all police cars and body cameras with Microsoft’s facial recognition software, the company’s president and chief legal officer Brad Smith wrote in a new book on tech policy. He said police wanted to match a photo of anyone pulled over, even routinely, against a database of suspects for other crimes.
Smith said the technology would wrongly identify too many people, especially women and people of color. The executive has warned that unregulated facial recognition could unleash “mass surveillance on an unprecedented scale,” though he’s opposed to an outright ban. Microsoft in November hired an attorney to speak out against a proposed ban in Portland, Maine.
Other companies including Amazon, which markets a face identification system called Rekognition to law enforcement, have shown fewer qualms about selling their technology to police. Some law enforcement agencies feed images from video surveillance into software that can search government databases or social media for a possible match.
Todd Pastorini, general manager at biometric forensics company DataWorks Plus, said it’s important to distinguish between real-time crowd surveillance — which is rare in the U.S. — and the “extremely effective” method of running images through a pool of known police mugshots or driver’s license photos to help identify a suspect.
“Society and the public are going to get frustrated” if governments block law enforcement from adopting a technology that keeps improving, he said.
Among his South Carolina company’s biggest face-matching clients are Detroit and New York City, the latter of which first adopted facial recognition in 2011 and also uses software from French company Idemia.
“I’d absolutely be opposed to a ban,” New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill told reporters this fall.
O’Neill, who retired in early December, added that facial recognition hits are just one part of an investigation. “There is so much video in New York City today that to not use facial recognition would be irresponsible,” he said.
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Central Florida News
State Attorney Monique Worrell Responds to Court’s Denial of Bond for Former Deputy in Fatal Shooting Case
Published
1 month agoon
September 5, 2025By
Willie David
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (FNN) – State Attorney Monique Worrell issued a statement following the court’s decision to deny bond for Anthony Shea, a former deputy charged in connection with a fatal shooting.
Court’s Decision Reflects Seriousness of Charges
“The Court’s decision today to deny bond for Anthony Shea reflects the seriousness of the charges he faces,” Worrell said. Shea remains in custody as legal proceedings move forward in a case that has drawn significant public and law enforcement attention.
Honoring the Victim’s Life and Service
“Beyond the legal proceedings, this case is about honoring the life of a woman who dedicated herself to protecting others,” Worrell added. “This was a tragic loss of life that has deeply impacted the law enforcement community, as well as our circuit.”
Commitment to Justice
Worrell emphasized her office’s ongoing commitment to ensuring justice is served. “We continue to extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the victim during this painful time. Our office remains steadfast in ensuring that her service, her sacrifice, and her memory are met with the justice they deserve.”
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J Willie David, III | News@FloridaNationalNews.com
Central Florida News
Deputies: Home and SUV Smashed by Heavy Machinery in Apparent Act of Revenge
Published
2 months agoon
July 27, 2025By
Willie David
CLERMONT, Fla. (FNN) – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shocking case of property destruction in Clermont, where a suspect reportedly used heavy machinery to demolish part of a home and an SUV—then left behind a profanity-laced message on the side of the house.
Deputies responded to the scene near Pine Island and Montevista Roads around 7 a.m. Friday, where they found a home with multiple large holes in its structure and debris scattered across the property. A nearby SUV had its roof crushed and windows shattered, consistent with damage from heavy equipment, possibly an excavator.
One side of the home featured a message scrawled in large letters, including a person’s name followed by the phrase: “You [expletive] with the wrong girl.”
“It is heartbreaking to see a residence vandalized this way,” said Stephanie Earley, spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. “We are actively investigating to identify the individual responsible and bring them to justice.”
Authorities confirmed no injuries occurred and that no machinery was found at the scene upon their arrival. The motive appears personal in nature, but the case remains under active investigation.
Crimes and Courts
Drone, SWAT-Style Operation Shocks East Orange County Residents During Police Action
Published
4 months agoon
June 12, 2025By
Willie David
ORLANDO, FL (FNN) – “Florida National News was the first media outlet on the scene to capture a major law enforcement operation that unfolded Thursday morning in the Lake Pickett community of East Orange County, drawing the attention and concern of residents.”
Police Activity on Ithaca Way
At appoximately 11:00 a.m., multiple units from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office converged on a home located at 14044 Ithaca Way, Orlando. Deputies dressed in military-style tactical gear and body armor could be seen surrounding the property while issuing commands over a loudspeaker, instructing the occupants to exit the home.
An Orange County Fire Department unit was staged nearby as a precaution.
Drone Deployment and Suspect Detention
In a display of advanced law enforcement tactics, an Orange County Sheriff’s drone was deployed over the property, providing aerial surveillance as the situation developed.
Florida National News captured an known female temporarily detained in plastic white handcuffs before being escorted to speak with what appeared to be an undercover deputy nearby. Moments later, the woman was re-handcuffed — this time with standard sheriff-issued cuffs — and placed back into a marked patrol vehicle.
Crime Scene Secured
Authorities sealed off the property with crime scene tape, limiting access while deputies remained stationed at the residence.
At this time, the specific nature of the warrant being served and the details of the investigation have not been officially released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
“Florida National News contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Office regarding the large law enforcement presence in the Lake Pickett community. In an email statement, the Sheriff’s Public Information Officer confirmed that deputies were serving a search warrant in the area. No further details were provided.”
Stay Connected for Updates
This is a developing story. Stay connected with Florida National News (FNN) for updates as we receive more information from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
__________________________________________________________
J Willie David, III
News@FloridaNationalNews.com
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