This site uses facial recognition to tackle police violence in LA

While some LA officers try to hide their identities, one image could be enough to find out who they are.

A site, called FuckLAPD.com, makes it possible for anyone who has a picture of a police officer in Los Angeles to identify them.

Kyle McDonald, a media artist, created the tool, which uses public records and facial recognition technology.

“Cops covering up their badges? ID them with their faces instead,” states the site that allows its users to identify officers who cover their badge or serial number.

The website allows users to upload an image of a police officer that’s checked next to 9000 LAPD headshots accessed through public record requests.

The website states, “Processing happens on your device. No photos or data are transmitted or saved. Blurry, low-resolution photos will not match.”

The site was created after the protests against ICE in Los Angeles broke out at the beginning of June. McDonald created the website in response to the police violence during these protests, according to 404media.

The creator of the site shared that the information used on fuckLAPD.com is provided by the City of Los Angeles and belongs to the public.

This isn’t McDonald’s first attempt at finding a way to identify certain officers. The artist has previously created a similar tool called ICEspy, which uses images of ICE employees from LinkedIn.

It’s been reported that ICE officers tend to conceal their identities by wearing masks, sunglasses, or baseball caps. They also refuse to provide their name to confirm that they’re actually working for ICE.

This made people question whether the person approaching them is actually a federal agent, with the identification issue becoming especially serious in cases when people get assaulted or detained.