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Facial recognition technology focus of Detroit forum

Pixabay

 

  A Detroit city council member is hosting a community forum on the use of facial-recognition technology by police.

The event by Roy McCalister Jr. is planned for Thursday at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall in Detroit. It is expected to focus on how the software will be implemented.

The city's Board of Police Commissioners has approved the police department's use of the technology to investigate crimes.

Images from video surveillance are fed into software, which can search databases and social media for a possible match. The software has been used since 2018, but Chief James Craig had sought a permanent policy.

Critics say facial recognition amounts to mass racial profiling in a city that is about 80 percent black.

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