A man who discovered his real photograph was being used by North Miami Beach police officers for target practice on a South Florida gun range is understandably pissed.
The man's sister, a soldier in the Florida National Guard, discovered her brother's face was being shot at by SWAT snipers when she arrived at the range to take part in target practice with her unit, according to a report by NBC Miami. The target, which the woman apparently took from the range, shows six mugshots, all of African American men.
The North Miami police chief defended the use of photos of real humans as a widespread practice among law enforcement who use photos of similar looking people for "facial recognition" training, and that his department uses targets depicting real faces of all races.
The chief did say that it was a mistake to use booking photos of people who had actually been arrested by his department, and that in the future his officers will only use photos of actual human beings who were not arrested in North Miami Beach. The man whose sister found the target spent four years in prison for a 2000 drag race that killed two people.
NBC says it contacted at Federal and state law enforcement agencies, as well as five different South Florida police departments, all who said they never, ever, use images of real people as targets.
