Police face biometrics bill debated in US state; 3 years in the making

Proponents and opponents of police using facial recognition in the U.S. state of Massachusetts appear to have battled to a compromise.

Privacy and civil liberties advocates have fought to ban the use of facial recognition by police for many reasons including that some algorithms are less accurate for people who are not white males. Law enforcement supporters maintained that biometrics are too valuable a tool for police to ignore.

Proposed state legislation in Massachusetts would ban biometric surveillance and identification regardless of where the algorithm came from for local police departments.

Instead, it would create a single office within the state police to use a facial recognition algorithm and to receive and process requests from local law enforcement.

The state police could also ask the FBI to do the face matching. Either way, the purpose of the matching would have to have at least one of four goals.

Police can only use face biometrics when executing a warrant in matters where a felony is alleged, to prevent an imminent emergency that could result in death, to identify a body or to assist “another law enforcement agency or a federal agency.”

The legislation also would permit the registrar of motor vehicles to have and use facial recognition for verification. It would be banned in most instances from giving access to the code.

The bill, House 1728/Senate 927, is the result of a previous governor‘s special commission to balance the demands of those interested in the matter, according to the Cleburne Times-Review.

Former Gov. Charlie Baker had made relevant legislative changes in 2020 before asking lawmakers and the commission to forge a workable solution.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  legislation  |  Massachusetts  |  police