Dennis said it is common practice to use actual mugshots, and members of the same ethnic group help with facial recognition exercises.
NBC 6 Investigators spoke with both federal and state law enforcement agencies, as well as five local police departments, and they all said they use commercially produced targets for shooting practice, and never mugshots of actual people.
Dennis does say however that he regrets the usage of a mugshot of an actual Miami resident.
Woody Deant seems to feel the same.
‘Now I’m being used as a target?’ he said.
‘I’m not even living that life according to how they portrayed me as. I’m a father. I’m a husband. I’m a career man. I work 9-to-5.’
He then added that this make the streets feel anything but safe for him in his community.
‘Automatically in his [cop’s] mind he’s going to think target, target, target.’