Dallas Police Department Use ClearView AI with ‘Robust’ Safeguards

The Dallas Police Department plans to implement facial recognition technology from ClearView AI to aid in identifying suspects involved in specific crimes.

The department has been monitoring the use of this technology in other cities and has developed a “robust” policy to ensure responsible and targeted use.

ClearView AI’s technology has scraped billions of images from the internet, including social media platforms, and uses facial recognition to match individuals to suspects. Dallas police say they have already used the technology in individual cases, leading to the identification and arrest of a suspected child pornographer.

New York-based Clearview has faced its share of controversy since landing in the spotlight following a January 2020 front page story in The New York Times, including a large fine from an Italian privacy group, and a BIPA settlement under Illinois’ expansive biometric privacy law.

While privacy concerns have been raised about facial recognition technology, Police Chief Eddie Garcia assures that Dallas’s policy will be stringent and require supervisor review to prevent misuse. The department said the technology will be used to identify specific suspects accused of specific crimes, not for general surveillance, and for identifying suspects in large crowds such as concerts and sporting events.

“Those large scale events do create additional photos in the solution,” Major Stephen Williams told a local news outlet. “The more publicity and attention we get from the public events when people post photos that helps in the individual process on how we identify individual people in places.”

City councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn also expressed support for the technology.

“I have always had a lot of concerns about privacy, whether it is data or other things. This feels very comfortable for me. This feels like efficiency and just the next step,” said Mendelsohn.

The program will be funded through grant money, and the department aims to fully roll it out within six months.

Source: NBCDFW

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May 14, 2024 — by Tony Bitzionis