The New Orleans City Council has postponed action on an ordinance that would have broadened police access to facial recognition technology, extending debate over surveillance policy and the city’s reliance on a private camera network. The proposal, authored by council members Oliver Thomas and Eugene Green, was withdrawn after several delays. Thomas’ mayoral campaign said more time is needed to study how the measure would interact with a new state law that touches on immigration enforcement.
Current Framework And Role Of Project NOLA
New Orleans banned police use of facial recognition in 2020 but reversed course in 2022, replacing the ban with reporting requirements and limited access. The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) does not maintain its own system; instead, requests for searches are routed through state or federal partners. The framework was intended as a compromise, requiring oversight but allowing use in some cases.
A major point of contention is Project NOLA, a nonprofit that operates a private network of thousands of cameras throughout the city. The organization has the capacity to run real-time face searches on about two hundred cameras, primarily in the French Quarter, Warehouse District, and Central Business District.
Until April, it was sending live match alerts to NOPD, but Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick suspended those alerts following reporting that raised questions about oversight. Kirkpatrick has since urged the council to loosen city restrictions, and has floated the possibility of creating a city-operated camera system that could include facial recognition.
Arguments And Next Steps
Supporters of expanded access argue that broader use of facial recognition could help NOPD investigate violent crimes and respond to emergencies such as jailbreaks. Civil liberties groups, however, caution that bias, misuse, and a lack of transparency remain significant risks. The council is also weighing how Louisiana’s Act 399, passed earlier this year, might influence local decisions.
Project NOLA continues to share possible facial matches with Louisiana State Police and federal agencies when authorities issue felony alerts. The city’s policy decisions will determine whether NOPD regains access to similar alerts. The Lens has noted that when the 2022 “guardrails” ordinance was adopted, the council removed a proposed requirement for judge approval but preserved other oversight mechanisms, reflecting the tension between accountability and investigative needs.
Other U.S. cities have confronted similar challenges as they consider police and municipal deployments of biometric systems. ID Tech has covered Oklahoma City’s facial recognition contract and standards proposals from groups like the Biometrics Institute on public-space use.
—
By Ali Nassar-Smith
