By: Laci Patiga
In a recent article, High-Tech NYPD Unit Tracks Criminals Through Facebook and Instagram Photos, the NYPD is making the most of social media to catch criminals. With a new advancement in technology, the NYPD’s Facial Recognition Unit has the ability to run faces found on Facebook, Instagram, or surveillance cameras and run it through a database of mug shots to see if they get a match. This new technology is ideal because a lot of cops hit dead ends; either there are no fingerprints left behind or the victim has an unclear description of the suspect. Facial recognition “zeroes in on features and extracts size and shape of eyes, noses, cheekbones and jaws to find a match—[and] is now revolutionizing investigations in ways not seen since fingerprint analysis was implemented generations ago.”
This Facial Recognition Unit has already hit the ground running. Its first encounter involved a woman’s jewelry stolen by a friend’s boyfriend. His name was unknown to her, but she identified him through Facebook photos and the police were able track him down. In other cases, police successfully arrested a man who was involved in numerous cab robberies and another man who robbed an elderly couple. All these apprehensions were possible because of the use of the Facial Recognition Unit. Not only can it help with recent crimes, but it can also aid in past crimes. If police come across similar descriptions from a past case, they can follow up and see if the suspect is involved in both charges.
This is a completely different side when viewing technology and surveillance. While there are those who believe surveillance is too prevalent in our society—welfare cases, businesses refusing us a job because of past Facebook photos from our younger and immature days, or surveillance cameras in shopping malls that act as a deterrence—there is a bright side to this. Instead of negatively using social media to target citizens, police are using it to find out criminal’s identities. If they get a hit, the name and age of the suspect pop up. One officer claimed “it saved a ton of time and potentially dangerous investigative legwork.” The whole police force doesn’t have to go out in the field and attempt to find that suspect; they just send in the photo and wait for a response. If they do get a hit, they can learn more about the suspect’s file and their criminal history. As a result, the police can act accordingly for when they do go in for an arrest. Policing styles are definitely keeping up with progressing societies. We are in a technological era, and police need to keep up their efficiency and replicate such changes.
The article does touch base on the fact that “facial recognition hits are not legally considered ‘probable cause’ for cops to make an arrest” and this technology “is not foolproof,” but it is a step in the right direction. It helps victims identify suspects, the police can do more investigations with a clearer direction of where they’re headed, and it saves time and resources.
I think it is very ignorant of us as a population to assume that the government will not use the information we make public on social networking sites. Further to that, seeing as we willingly make our profiles open to be viewed by people we barely even know, I hardly see the distinction when the law enforcement use it to help them solve a crime. It's barely an intrusion of privacy if we are willing to give this information to everybody.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in the effectiveness of this facial recognition technology. Also, the article frames the main issues as efficiency vs privacy, but as previously stated in class,privacy claims are often insufficient protections. This article also shows the inefficiencies of laws regarding technology. There aren't much laws on this issue because the law has to catch up to current technological standards. While using this technology to catch criminals sounds appealing, I admit concern over other potential uses of this technology.
ReplyDeleteCarly Wasserman
I think this is really interesting because it illustrates how sometimes the law is not caught up on the newest technology. I think that while the facial recognition software is not considered especially reliable today, that soon it will be. This is also a potential issue of privacy, but I think that as long as the police are accessing only the parts of their profiles that are accessible to the general public, then there really isn't a problem. People create these profiles with the intent of sharing information with the general public, and I think that it would be ridiculous if police were not able to take advantage of it.
ReplyDeleteSocial media has massively expanded the resources available to law enforcement and private police for recognizing and finding criminals because of the information people willingly choose to provide. The social media architecture is being taken advantage of fully by law enforcement as well as private police investigations of crime.
ReplyDeleteChristina A. Henriquez
Great article Laci. Because the public has the option on facebook to allow other people to view their picture, I believe that it gives the right for individuals/groups of individuals such as the public law enforcement to use these resources available to them and catch criminals. As mentioned above, I do believe that more research can be done on this type of policing. I'm not exactly sure how reliable convicting someone based off of a picture on facebook would be; but I do think the police are going in the right direction in using social media to stop crime.
ReplyDeleteAndres Diaz
This is completely unsurprising. When we begin to think that we actually know the breadth and depth of personal information law enforcement and other government agencies have access to, it tends to be an underestimation of their surveillance capabilities.
ReplyDeleteAnton Kienast
I agree that using Facebook and other social media websites are a good supplement to the investigative process of police work. However, the information found on these social media websites should be used with caution. Since it is so easy to open accounts on these websites, any person can put false information in their profile. In addition, using these websites provides a greater potential for racial profiling. Thus, I do not think using these websites should substitute the field work of investigation.
ReplyDelete-Tiffani Toy
I believe this is an innovative way for police entities to become more efficient with their use of resources, which they can then use to focus on other issues. Like others mentioned, I don't see any huge issues with privacy or surveillance, because Facebook users have the capability to set their profile pictures to private and that the pictures are only being used and analyzed to determine if one matches the face of a suspect. As long as there is sufficient human oversight to ensure a proper match is found by the program, or that the program does not glitch, I find this tactic and unit's existence to be promising in the effort to solve crimes.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great advancement in surveillance technology, and something that can drastically save time and reduce financial costs associated with criminal apprehension. While I am normally critical of companies or state authorities monitoring social networking sites, I believe this form of surveillance is justified in this context. A theme that has come up consistently throughout this course, we must be wary that every aspect of our lives, publicly showcased online through sites like Facebook and Instagram, can be used against us.
ReplyDelete-Michael B
I think your article is a great example of how technology is helping law enforcement increase their policing of people in society. I think law enforcement is using a great strategy to use such sophisticated facial unit recognition technology to survey social media in order to capture criminals who are hiding out. It’s one space/medium where criminals are so vulnerable in getting caught because they don’t think that other people, let alone law enforcement, would use such technology to police their social spaces. Many people also don’t realize the scope of surveillance in their lives as well. The use of this technology in social media may generate some issues about the intrusion of privacy on someone’s social media space, but people should not forget that anything they post online is public to someone. Also, this type of technologically definitely gives law enforcement a leg up in strategizing how to take down more potentially dangerous criminals who are hiding out and may be planning to commit another crime. However, law enforcement should strike a balance in finding suspects of recent crimes and in finding career criminals.
ReplyDeleteEdwina Yuan
Facial recognition is one of the technological developments today which have great impact on society. The use of this development by the police force has helped in fighting crime. In my opinion, such use of technology is definitely in the best interests of society. Facial recognition has helped police to reduce the time it takes to apprehend a criminal and hence solve cases faster. All this helps in reducing any back log that may exist. Societies should embrace technological developments because they help improve different aspects of life, not only crime fighting.
ReplyDeleteSehun Lee
As many others have already stated, the idea of police utilizing facial recognition software through social media in order to apprehend known criminals is an interesting one. However, I wouldn't immediately jump to say that it's necessarily a "good" thing. While, yes, it helps widen the net cast by police as they attempt to track down people who've broken the law -- it also another step in the direction of overstepping its bounds as far as privacy goes (if it hasn't crossed that point already). Granting concessions in certain tactics that, in your opinion, may or may not be violating your privacy is a bit of a slippery slope. Where is it that people will decide it's gone too far or has it crossed that point already?
ReplyDelete- Donald Chan
I think this is a very interesting topic. I agree with other commenters who have said that as long as the police are only accessing what is available to the general public then there is no real privacy issue. My concern is that this technology seems very limited in its use. In the example given where it was used, the woman knew who the perpetrator was just not his name. However, a lot of crimes happen by complete strangers and I feel this technology, at least right now, is very limited in its use for these cases.
ReplyDelete-Katie Wellman
I definitely agree that this Facial Recognition Unit will increase efficiency. In addition, these practices seem like a way to reduce the damage done to police legitimacy. I would assume that most people would rather have somebody go through their Facebook page than be pulled over for "matching a description".
ReplyDelete-Yo Kamiya
Due to the the media access within the Federal Government they are able to find loop wholes and ways to find criminal activity that technically breaks peoples privacy. Although their argument will be for the decrease in criminal activity and how the way they are doing it, although it gets into peoples privacy, is actually benefitting our society.
ReplyDelete-Derek Campbell
I'm surprised law enforcement hasn't come up with this idea sooner. Social media has been around for a while now and our information is out there for all sorts uses by sources surveilling. I think the use of our social media profiles is a good way to find suspects because people won't be bothered as much when the police are knocking on doors and stopping people who look like the perp. It definitely is a good way for victims to identify someone to the police as well. I don't believe it intrudes our privacy in any way since we are putting our information out there for everyone to see, we are technically consenting to have our information searched by whoever has access to it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic and view on how surveillance can be used as a cost efficient mechanism to prevent crime. I wonder what happens in those cases where people may look like others - mistaken identity? I am also still a bit skeptical as it will perhaps be another loop hole for the government to monitor people.
ReplyDeleteMaria T. Perez