A national investigation found that Wisconsin police departments had been using facial recognition software created by Clearview AI.
At the April 17, 2025 meeting of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, MPD proposed the use of facial recognition technology. 29 people from the community showed up to testify during public comment, and all 29 testified against the use of facial recognition by MPD.
MPD acknowledged that it used the facial recognition of neighboring law enforcement agencies in several cases over the years, despite no local policy governing its use.
MPD is drafting a Standard Operating Procedure on the use of facial recognition to be presented at an upcoming meeting of the FPC. Facial recognition will then need approval from the Common Council.
Face recognition is a biometric technology that uses a face or the image of a face to identify or verify the identity of an individual in photos, video, or in real-time. It is commonly used by law enforcement and private businesses. Face recognition systems depend on databases of individuals’ images to train their underlying algorithms. Face recognition can be applied retroactively to video footage and photographs, it can be used in coordination with other surveillance technologies and databases when creating profiles of individuals, including those who may never have been involved in a crime. It can facilitate the tracking of individuals across video feeds and can be integrated into camera systems and other technologies, as we have seen at sporting events in the United States.
Face recognition can be prone to failures in its design and in its use, which can implicate people for crimes they haven’t committed and make people into targets of unwarranted or dangerous retaliation. Facial recognition software is particularly bad at recognizing African Americans and other ethnic minorities, women, young people, and transgender and nonbinary individuals. People in these demographic groups are especially at risk of being misidentified by this technology and are disparately impacted by its use. Face recognition contributes to the mass surveillance of individuals, neighborhoods, and populations that have historically been targeted by unfair policing practices, and it has been used to target people engaging in protected speech and alienate perceived enemies.
Read more:
- 47 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies used facial recognition software reliant on social media photos
- Police Say a Simple Warning Will Prevent Face Recognition Wrongful Arrests. That's Just Not True
- ACLU letter raises alarm about Milwaukee PD surveillance
- Police Department Technology Purchases Raise Concerns
This technology is only one reason why we need a Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) ordinance. CCOPS would require oversight and community input in invasive surveillance technologies, allowing the Wisconsinites being surveilled to make informed decisions about their privacy.
Milwaukee deserves to know how the police are surveilling us. Milwaukee needs CCOPS.
