Facing Pushback, MPD Halts Use of Facial Recognition Technology

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Facing community pushback and a possible Fire & Police Commission (FPC) directive, the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) is pausing its use of facial recognition technology.

“The Milwaukee Police Department will voluntarily issue a moratorium on the use of any and all facial recognition technology (FRT) use for the Department,” said MPD Chief of Staff Heather Hough to other city officials on Feb. 6. “We understand the public concern, particularly in light of national circumstances. Despite our belief that this is useful technology to assist in generating leads for apprehending violent criminals, we recognize that the public trust is far more valuable.”

This came one day after the Fire & Police Commission spent several hours listening to public feedback on the topic and discussing the potential that it could issue a directive to Chief Jeffrey Norman to stop using the technology.

Norman and other MPD personnel revealed that the department continues to use the controversial technology by contacting outside agencies that are approved to use it and providing images for a potential match.

“It’s never been used for anything but violent crime,” Norman told the committee. MPD first revealed it had asked other agencies to identify people in April 2025, and Hough said the department was working on a standard operating procedure (SOP) and a contract with a vendor.

On Thursday, Norman told the commission he was “slow walking” the idea of creating a formal policy to hear more feedback. “I am not in a rush to make a decision at this time,” he said.

But the revelation that the department continued to ask others to use the technology for its own purposes drew pushback.

“There are real potential costs to the taxpayers here,” said Commissioner Krissie Fung, citing settlements in Detroit and other communities. Last June Detroit paid a $300,000 settlement for the wrongful identification and arrest of someone based on facial recognition technology.

“I didn’t know until prior to just now that you guys were borrowing FRT, and I don’t think that’s acceptable,” said Commissioner Bree Spencer, the acting chair. “My trust is diminished.”

Act 12, the 2023 sales tax law, stripped FPC’s ability to create policies, but the commission maintains the ability to issue directives to the chief. Spencer, Fung and Jeff Spence spoke openly about doing so.

Community members testified for more than three hours about concerns with the technology, including the harms from false positives and the potential for mass surveillance.

“Facial recognition poses serious risk to civil liberties, public trust and democratic participation, especially at the moment we are in in our history,” said Bianca Shaw, a representative of Common Cause Wisconsin.

“When these systems are wrong, the harm is not theoretical,” said Nadiyah Johnson, head of the Milky Way Tech Hub.

“This is not just another policing tool, this is a surveillance system that changes the relationship between the public and the government,” said James Stein, deputy director of advocacy at the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin.

Katie Kinsey, chief of staff at NYU Law School’s Policing Project, also gave a presentation on the technology. She said there are unproven potential benefits and “real risks.” She said best practices include a community-led plan that starts with a pilot program.

“It seems if we started this project on the wrong foot, there was no outreach to the community,” said Spence.

Hough said MPD was using the technology before she became its chief of staff in late 2022, and a decision was made to disclose the usage. But Inspector Paul Lough said records on its use only go back to 2024. Management provides verbal instructions on how to use the technology. “To my knowledge, we have not used facial recognition as probable cause to make an arrest,” he said.

MPD has a pending offer to gain free, internal use of the technology with a company called Biometrica in exchange for providing 2.5 million booking photos, commonly called mugshots. Several community members opposed the nature of the agreement. Lough said MPD had not selected a vendor and was not in contact with any others.

Council members indicate they were ready to act

Multiple Common Council members are indicating their desire to get involved in the issue.

Alderman Alex Brower praised the decision to pause FRT use. “This is outstanding news for the city and for the residents of Milwaukee, and I applaud Chief Jeffrey Norman on this decision,” said Brower in a statement. “I also thank all of those who took time to testify (and offer testimony) before the FPC on this issue. Your input was impactful and clearly made a huge difference.”

The chair of the council’s Public Safety & Health Committee, Ald. Scott Spiker, is pushing for MPD to speed up its SOP drafting process. He cited an April 2025 meeting he had with Hough and said he thought a policy would be forthcoming. “I think it’s time to get off the pot,” he said at the commission meeting.

As a result of Act 12, the council can now modify standard operating procedures with a two-thirds vote. However, it cannot intervene until a policy exists to be modified.

Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic had raised her concerns during a Finance & Personnel Committee meeting on Feb. 4. “I guess I am questioning the system and I want to put everyone on notice,” she said about the city’s contracted use of 31 Flock cameras. Ald. Sharlen P. Moore also objected to a contract extension with Flock.

Flock cameras are automated license plate reading cameras. U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, working with other law enforcement agencies, has been able to access the data to assist in locating people. Agencies with cameras can opt into a national data sharing network, allowing local agencies and those they partner with to see vehicle data beyond their borders.

Spiker raised his concern at the finance meeting about other agencies’ ability to access the city’s body camera footage.

Dimitrijevic stressed the need for new policies to address the situation. “We need additional SOPs, guidance and guardrails on many of these items together and how they interconnect and work together,” she said. “The guardrails we used to have in this community and country are no longer strong enough.”