Edmonton Police Commission faces criticism over facial recognition pilot and chief's Israel trip

Public comments at Thursday's Edmonton Police Commission meeting turned into sharp exchanges over facial recognition technology and Chief Warren Driechel's February trip to Israel, despite agreements to avoid discussing global politics.

The Edmonton Police Service is the first agency in the world to test a facial recognition program for body-worn cameras from Axon Enterprise Inc., the American company known for inventing the Taser. Standard body-worn video cameras were adopted in September 2024 as a provincial mandate. Axon provided the facial recognition technology free of charge.

Commenter Beth Capper told the meeting the technology poses significant privacy issues for Edmonton residents "who are currently serving as the guinea pigs for the rollout of this tech, which is illegal in many jurisdictions, including much of the European Union." She said the pilot was not approved by the Alberta Privacy Commissioner and flagged uncertainty about what data will be shared with Axon about Canadian citizens. Capper also called for Chief Driechel to be fired, saying his position "compounds perceptions that the EPS racially targets Edmontonians."

When commenter Carly Perkins repeatedly raised Gaza and Driechel's trip, Commission vice-chairwoman Shazia Amiri warned her the meeting would not be "a venue for those looking to divide and create conflict in Edmonton." After Perkins continued linking the Israel trip to the Axon company, security escorted her out.

Presenter Ryan O'Toole brought statistics on Indigenous people's treatment, noting that Indigenous women represent 35 per cent of women admitted to adult sentenced custody though they comprise three per cent of the population. Nationally, Indigenous peoples account for 16 to 18 per cent of police-involved deaths while comprising around five per cent of the population. Since 2000, 39 people have died as a result of use of force by the EPS, she said.