Tlaib: Use Only Blacks As Detroits Facial Recognition Analysts

(The Detroit News) George Hunter Oct. 2 2019 9:20 a.m. U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib told Detroit police Chief James Craig he should employ only black people on the departments facial recognition team because non-African Americans think African-Americans all look the same." The Democrat made the statement during a tour of the Real Time Crime center where monitors display live footage from video cameras on traffic lights and in and around businesses. A day after Tlaib made the comment Monday her spokesman said she was trying to convey the importance of accurately identifying black suspects in a city with an African American population of about 80. Police officials invited Tlaib to the facility inside Public Safety Headquarters to see how Detroit uses facial recognition software after she criticized the technology in an Aug. 20 tweet. The congresswoman wrote: @detroitpolice You should probably rethink this whole facial recognition bull----. The tour which lasted more than an hour was often tense with Tlaib and Craig wrangling over how the department uses the software privacy issues and concerns that the technology misidentifies a disproportionate number of darker-skinned people. A major point of contention: whether only black civilians should work in the crime center analyzing photos flagged by the software. Analysts need to be African Americans not people that are not" Tlaib told Craig. I think non-African Americans think African Americans all look the same.