The NYPD’s False Facial Recognition arrest

Friend,

We’ve known for years that facial recognition falsely accuses Black and Latinx Americans of crimes they never committed, but the NYPD’s algorithmic injustices have hidden from the public. This week, that changed when our friends at the Legal Aid Society detailed how one of their clients was targeted by the tech. Trevis Williams was 8 inches taller and 70 pounds heavier than the suspect the NYPD photographed halfway across town. But none of that stopped the NYPD from falsely arresting him for a crime based only on a biased facial recognition scan.

New Yorkers like Trevis shouldn’t have to fear being hauled off to jail, or even worse, because of this broken and biased tech. But if facial recognition were accurate, it’d be even more chilling, threatening the rights of abortion seekers, protesters, and our undocumented neighbors. Given NYPD complicity with ICE, they can never be trusted with facial recognition.

S.T.O.P. and the Ban The Scan coalition have organized against facial recognition across New York for years, fighting for a city where AI-driven false arrests like this never happen. We’re on the verge of passing two city laws, Introductions 217 and 425, banning this broken technology, but we need your help getting them to a vote. Can you take just 3 minutes to help make these facial recognition protections into law by contacting City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams?

We must fight back to ensure facial recognition false arrests never happen again. Together we can pass not only these two bills, but make history with the largest facial recognition bans in the country. Please join us and contact Speaker Adams today!