The Aurora, Colorado City Council has given preliminary approval for the city’s police department to use facial recognition technology, advancing the proposal to a formal vote. The measure, which faced opposition from one council member, would allow police to use the technology for investigative leads under a framework established by state law.
The move is a required step under Colorado’s Senate Bill 22-113, a 2022 law mandating that law enforcement agencies establish public policies and receive local government approval before deploying such systems.
The Aurora Police Department (APD) intends to utilize two systems: Lumen, a statewide database of Colorado jail mugshots, and Clearview AI, a controversial platform that uses billions of images scraped from public websites and social media. The use of Clearview AI, in particular, has faced significant legal challenges and scrutiny over privacy concerns.
Department officials stated that the technology would serve strictly as an investigative tool, with any match considered a lead, not probable cause for an arrest. The APD’s draft policy prohibits the use of facial recognition for live surveillance or immigration enforcement and requires that at least two trained analysts and a supervisor perform a “meaningful human review” of any potential match.
During the session, council members raised concerns about the technology’s known biases against women and people of color and the risk of false positives leading to wrongful detentions. In response, police representatives argued that a facial recognition match can be more reliable than human eyewitness testimony. The department plans to spend over $170,000 on the Clearview AI subscription and training over the next three years.
Sources: Sentinel Colorado, 9news.com, CBS News
–
By the ID Tech Editorial Team
