Associated Incidents
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Facial recognition is credited with spotting two escaped inmates in the French Quarter last Friday morning (May 16).
Two hours after the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office sent a list of escaped inmates and their mugshots to area law enforcement, Bryan Lagarde, executive director of Project NOLA, began entering data and scanning mug shots.
"The moment we hit enter, it's 'Bang, bang, bang,' and we start getting hits," Lagarde said.
According to Lagarde, Project NOLA's system pings cell phones and other devices when a wanted person is detected.
A source said Kendell Myers and Corey Boyd were the two escapees wearing plain clothes Friday near the corner of Canal and Bourbon Streets. Louisiana State Police recaptured Myles a short time later near the Hotel Monteleone.
"By the time that they got there, which was only just a matter of a few minutes, the pair split off," Lagarde said. "One walked out of our grid outside of the French Quarter and the other was on the fringes of our grid. LSP worked their magic, able to intercept and arrest him."
Lagarde maintains if information on all 10 escaped inmates had been released sooner, police would have captured both inmates in the Quarter. Instead, Boyd remains one of the six escapees still at large as of Monday night.
"Realistically, seconds count, minutes count," Lagarde said. "The faster that we can get this information to the authorities -- in this case, it's automated, mostly. The faster they can get out there, the faster they can go get that person before they do further harm to anyone else."
NOPD Supt. Anne Kirkpatrick acknowledged the success of Project NOLA's cameras last Friday.
"Through Project NOLA, the cameras do have facial recognition technology," Kirkpatrick said. "I'm not going to get into it, other than to tell you that this is the exact reason facial recognition technology is so critical and well within our boundaries of the ordinance here. We are allowed to use facial recognition technology in an event like this. We are already using our technology to leverage and help us."
But Lagarde said the NOPD in April directed Project NOLA to take its department off the automatic alerts when a wanted suspect pings on camera.
"In addition to the escapees, you can imagine the multitude of other people that are wanted for major crimes that we're seeing, and our system is internally alerting us to, and it's sending the alerts to federal authorities and LSP," Lagarde said.
Project NOLA operates more than 5,000 cameras throughout the city on homes, businesses and other buildings. Lagarde said 200 have facial recognition technology.
An NOPD spokesman issued a statement to Fox 8 on Monday evening explaining the department's decision.
"Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick directed the suspension of automated alerts from Project NOLA's facial recognition system, once made aware of their use," the statement said. "This decision was made to ensure full compliance with NOPD policy, city ordinance and constitutional standards.
"This pause does not impact NOPD's continued use of Project NOLA cameras, which remain a valuable investigative tool. What's been suspended is the receipt of real-time, AI-generated facial recognition alerts, not the use of camera footage.
"Supt. Kirkpatrick remains committed to using all lawful tools to keep the public safe, while also ensuring transparency, accountability and public trust in how technology is used. NOPD will continue working with our partners and reviewing all practices to ensure modern policing aligns with both safety and the law."