Vegas police don’t want to submit face biometrics to work NFL games

Police in Las Vegas say the NFL has forgotten the golden Vegas rule about discretion, and are threatening to boycott working Las Vegas Raiders games if they are forced to submit biometric data through facial authentication to access restricted areas.

The NFL recently announced the full implementation of its Wicket-powered face authentication program to all 30 stadiums for the 32 NFL teams this coming season. Steve Grammas, president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, asks in a video obtained by TMZ why cops can’t just wear wristbands like in the good old days.

“They’re going to take your biometric data – your face, and they’re going to use that however they need to,” Grammas says, apparently oblivious to the irony in arguing on behalf of police, who are embracing facial recognition worldwide at an astonishing pace, that collecting biometrics is invasive. Las Vegas Police Captain Dori Koren told MIT Technology Review in 2020 that the force was already using facial recognition.

“They’re going to extend that to their NFL family partners to use your information should they need to. That branches into a lot of places that your biometric data could be exposed to, a lot of people that you may not want it to be.” Grammas says raises fears that biometric data – i.e., a selfie – could fall into the hands of “people who are anti-cop, that support a different agenda from what law and order supports.”

The face authentication policy was set to be put in place during the first week of preseason, which began on August 8, preceding a full rollout. Wicket provides biometrics for the endeavor, in tandem with accreditation software from Accredit Solutions, which checks credentials at security checkpoints. They say their complete identity access management (IAM) system will “ensure that properly credentialed media, officials, staff and guests can easily and safely access restricted areas, including the playing field, press box or locker rooms.”

The two firms might take minor umbrage with one aspect of Grammas’ messaging – or at least recommend that he try Google. On reading that police will have to submit face biometrics to the NFL’s credentialing vendors, namely Wicket and Accredit, Grammas proclaims, “we don’t know who all those people are!”

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Article Topics

access control  |  biometrics  |  Express Entry  |  face biometrics  |  facial authentication  |  NFL  |  police  |  Wicket