ORLANDO, Fla. — Amazon has a real-time facial-recognition program, and Orlando Police are giving it a try.

  • Orlando Police are piloting Amazon Rekognition
  • Can analyze faces in videos in real-time
  • ACLU urging Amazon to stop marketing it to governments

The Orlando Police Department confirmed to Spectrum News 13 that it was piloting Amazon's Rekognition software and Amazon's Kinesis Video Streams for real-time video and image analysis. 

The programs use artificial intelligence technology to "identify the objects, people, text, scenes and activities, as well as detect any inappropriate content," according to the Amazon website. Rekognition also provides "highly accurate facial analysis and facial recognition."

The software can recognize up to 100 people in a single image, using a private repository of images.

Orlando is part of a public-private partnership with Amazon. In a statement, a city of Orlando spokesperson said:

"The Orlando Police Department is not using the technology in an investigative capacity or in any public spaces at this time. The purpose of a pilot program such as this, is to address any concerns that arise as the new technology is tested. Any use of the system will be in accordance with current and applicable law. We are always looking for new solutions to further our ability to keep the residents and visitors of Orlando safe."

The city hopes to use the programs with current city resources "to provide real-time detection and notification of persons-of-interests, further increasing public safety, and operational efficiency opportunities for the City of Orlando."

The city is stressing that, right now, it is only using "facial imagining for a handful of Orlando police officers who volunteered and agreed to participate in the test pilot."

The American Civil Liberties Union, however, is urging against use of the software, saying it raises "profound civil liberties and civil rights concerns."

The ACLU cites Amazon video in which Ranju Das, general manager for Amazon Rekognition, says the programs are being used with Orlando's existing cameras throughout the city. The camera feeds are sent through Amazon Kinesis Video Streams to search the video in real time and return data based on what police are looking for -- be it the location of a politician or a person of interest.

The city says the cameras Amazon has access to are "extremely restricted and limited to only eight city-owned cameras."

"With Rekognition, a government can now build a system to automate the identification and tracking of anyone," the ACLU wrote. "Cities might routinely track their own residents, whether they have reason to suspect criminal activity or not."

The ACLU is urging Amazon to stop marketing Rekognition to governments.