Facial recognition is a biased form of surveillance that misidentifies and threatens Black people on a daily basis. Dangerous surveillance tech has been acquired by hundreds of police departments across the country, and there are issues about the role it plays in police budgets.
Large companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and others play a role in selling this tech to authorities so it can be used in ways that violate our privacy. Calls to defund the police hope to address this kind of massive spending, and how it pulls money from areas that are severely underfunded.
At least half of adults across the USA are already included in police facial recognition databases, and Black privacy advocates are making the case for why we need to defund facial recognition. Black people are fighting back against this form of policing across the country.
In Detroit, for example, Black people have pushed back against facial recognition expansion and there have been calls for a nationwide ban. The money spent using this technology is just one of the many ways police waste money that could be used for more important needs.
Housing, healthcare, schools, and public transportation fall into disrepair when police funds eat up spending in city budgets. Calls to defund the police want to address this problem so that our communities will have what they need. What they certainly don’t need is racist surveillance!