Following records requests from The Post, officials paused the first known, widespread live facial recognition program used by police in the United States.

New Orleans police have reportedly spent years scanning live feeds of city streets and secretly using facial recognition to identify suspects in real time—in seeming defiance of a city ordinance designed to prevent false arrests and protect citizens' civil rights.

New Orleans quietly served as a testing ground for one of the most ambitious – and controversial – uses of facial recognition in

The Post investigators started firing off questions to the police and the city in February. On April 8, NOPD boss Anne Kirkpatrick reportedly sent out an all-hands memo to staff, saying that an officer had raised concerns about the system and suspended its use.

New Orleans police paused its use of a privately run facial recognition camera network last month amid legal and privacy questions from The Washington Post. Why it matters: It's likely the first AI-enhanced live surveillance system to be used in a major American city,

Facial recognition is credited with spotting two escaped inmates in the French Quarter last Friday morning (May 16). Two hours after Parish Sherif

Network of face recognition surveillance cameras distinguishes New Orleans as the worst abuser of this technology in the nation

The nonprofit is at the center of a debate about facial recognition, real-time surveillance, and the expanding role of private organizations in public policing.