A newly launched website allows members of the public to identify officers of the Los Angeles Police Department using facial recognition technology and publicly available photographs. The project highlights evolving uses of biometric tools outside of traditional law enforcement contexts, with implications for transparency, privacy, and digital accountability.
The site, FuckLAPD.com, was created by technologist and artist Kyle McDonald. It enables users to upload an image of an LAPD officer and match it against a database of more than 9,000 official police headshots obtained via public records requests. When a match is found, the site displays the officer’s name, badge number, and salary data drawn from Los Angeles’ city payroll database.
According to McDonald, the tool was developed in response to concerns that some officers concealed their identities during protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Los Angeles. Independent reports and photographs from the period appear to show officers with covered badges or obscured faces. “We deserve to know who is shooting us in the face even when they have their badge covered up,” McDonald told 404 Media.
The facial recognition process takes place locally on users’ devices. Images are not uploaded to the server or stored, and the site includes a disclaimer noting that low-resolution or obscured photos may result in failed matches. The system prioritizes the “T-zone” of the face – eyes and nose bridge – which are commonly used in biometric identification systems.
When a match is successful, users can navigate to an external accountability database, Watch the Watchers, which lists known misconduct records where available. This component builds on a growing number of open-source public oversight initiatives focused on law enforcement agencies.
The emergence of public-facing facial recognition tools comes as law enforcement agencies continue to rely on the technology for investigative purposes. The LAPD alone ran approximately 2,000 face-searches in 2021, according to its inspector general. California does not currently ban facial recognition use by police, though a 2019 state law temporarily prohibited it on body-worn cameras until 2022.
Nationally, a 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office report found that 18 of 24 major federal law enforcement agencies use facial recognition, mainly for criminal investigations. Technology companies including Amazon and Microsoft paused police deployments of facial recognition in 2020 and called for federal guidelines, but comprehensive U.S. legislation has yet to materialize.
Supporters of the technology point to its utility in identifying suspects and enhancing public safety, likening it to the early adoption of fingerprinting. Critics argue that facial recognition raises civil liberties concerns, citing risks of misidentification and surveillance overreach. Accuracy tends to drop in poor lighting or with low-resolution images, particularly during dynamic events like protests.
In this case, McDonald describes the tool as an act of civic engagement. “This is a transformative step towards transparency,” he said, adding that it responds to broader concerns over how LAPD resources are used. While the platform’s provocative branding may limit its adoption, it illustrates how biometric technologies are increasingly being adapted beyond their original institutional frameworks.
Sources: 404 Media, Watch the Watchers
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By Cass Kennedy
