Summary
This report presents the result of a yearlong investigation and over 100 records requests to police departments around the country, it is the most comprehensive survey to date of law enforcement face recognition and the risks that it poses to privacy, civil liberties, and civil rights. Combining FBI data with new information that was obtained about state and local systems, researchers find that law enforcement face recognition affects over 117 million American adults. It is also unregulated. A few agencies have instituted meaningful protections to prevent the misuse of the technology. In many more cases, it is out of control. The benefits of face recognition are real. It has been used to catch violent criminals andfugitives. The authors of this report believe that law enforcement officers who use the technology are men and women of good faith, who do not want to invade privacy or create a police state and are simply using every tool available to protect the people that they are sworn to serve. Police use of face recognition is inevitable. This report does not aim to stop it. Rather, this report offers a framework to reason through the very real risks that face recognition creates.
Contents
I. Executive summary. -- Key Findings. -- Recommendations. -- II. Introduction. - III. Background. -- What is face recognition technology? -- The unique risks of face recognition. -- How does law enforcement use force recognition? -- Our research. -- IV. A risk framework for law enforcement face recognition. -- Risk factors. -- Risk framework. -- V. Findings & scorecard. -- Deployment. -- Fourth Amendment. -- Free speech. -- Accuracy. -- Racial bias. -- Transparency & accountability. -- VI. Recommendations. -- Legislatures. -- Law Enforcement. -- The National Institute for Standards & Technology. -- Face Recognition Companies. -- Community Leaders. -- VII. Conclusion. - VIII. Acknowledgements. - IX. Endnotes. - X. Methodology. - XI. Model face recognition legislation. - XII. Model police face recognition use policy. - XIII. About the authors. - XIV. City & state backgrounders.