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Barry Friedman

Barry Friedman

Professor of Law at New York University; Founding Director, Policing Project

Appears in 2 stories

Notable Quotes

"It’s essential not to use these technologies, which have very real costs and risks, unless there’s some clear indication of the benefits." (on the Edmonton pilot)([washingtonpost.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/12/07/ai-facial-recognition-axon-edmonton/145d079e-d35f-11f0-a93c-a869cf73ebd6_story.html?utm_source=openai))

“It’s essential not to use these technologies, which have very real costs and risks, unless there’s some clear indication of the benefits.”

“It’s not a decision to be made simply by police agencies and certainly not by vendors.”

Stories

From bans to bodycams: how police facial recognition is moving onto the street

New Capabilities

Leading critic of Axon’s pivot toward facial recognition on bodycams

In December 2025, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) in Alberta, Canada, began a month-long “proof of concept” in which Axon body-worn cameras run third‑party facial-recognition software to scan passersby against a tightly scoped yet sizable watchlist: 6,341 people flagged in EPS systems for risks such as “violent or assaultive,” “armed and dangerous,” or “high‑risk offender,” plus 724 individuals with serious arrest warrants, for roughly 7,000 faces in total. Officers do not receive real-time alerts during the pilot; instead, footage is analyzed afterward to test accuracy and workflows.

Updated Dec 11, 2025

Axon revives police facial recognition on bodycams with Edmonton pilot

New Capabilities

Leading critic of Axon’s Edmonton pilot and its retreat from independent ethics oversight

In early December 2025, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) and U.S. vendor Axon activated a month‑long “proof of concept” in which AI-enabled body‑worn cameras scan the faces of people officers encounter against a “high‑risk” watch list of 6,341 individuals with safety flags and a separate list of 724 people wanted on serious warrants. Axon, which in 2019 publicly promised not to put facial recognition on its body cameras after advice from its independent AI Ethics Board, now frames the project as “early‑stage field research” outside the United States that will inform potential future deployments in North America.

Updated Dec 11, 2025