Timeline of predictive policing and facial recognition surveillance in New Orleans:

~2012-2018: Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology

2015: Meet The Man Who Runs New Orleans’ Entirely Privatized (And Controversial) City Surveillance System

2017: ProjectNOLA plans to expand crime camera network, work more closely with New Orleans officials

2018: Months after end of ‘predictive policing’ contract, Cantrell administration works on new tool to ID ‘high-risk’ residents

2020: New Orleans City Council bans facial recognition, predictive policing and other surveillance tech

2022: Mayor Cantrell moves to reverse bans on facial recognition, predictive policing and other surveillance tech

2023: Wholly ineffective and pretty obviously racist’: Inside New Orleans’ struggle with facial-recognition policing

May 2025: Police secretly monitored New Orleans with facial recognition cameras

June 2025: City camera technology not useful for facial recognition: Project NOLA founder

Lagarde says he believed a proposed new ordinance would “free up NOPD to tap the Project NOLA network without concern” as needed.

June 2025: Trump’s Palantir-Powered Surveillance Is Turning America Into a Digital Prison

Palantir, long criticized for its role in powering ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and predictive policing, is now poised to become the brain of Trump’s surveillance regime. Under the guise of “data integration” and “public safety,” this public-private partnership would deploy AI-enhanced systems to comb through everything from facial recognition feeds and license plate readers to social media posts and cellphone metadata—cross-referencing it all to assess a person’s risk to the state.