San Francisco police hit with lawsuit over facial recognition use

In 2019, San Francisco became the first city in the U.S. to ban facial recognition technology, forcing the police and other agencies to seek approvals for surveillance technology. A new lawsuit from a non-profit group argues, however, that the city’s police have repeatedly flouted the ban and failed to submit proper documentation related to surveillance technologies.

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) has already come under scrutiny after a May report accused it of asking neighboring forces to search facial recognition database for them. The police admitted to circumventing the ban six times, blaming the majority of violations on two officers.

In its lawsuit, advocacy group Secure Justice says that the problem is more widespread than the SFPD admits. The organization says that the unlawful use of facial recognition puts the legitimacy of investigations prosecuted by the District Attorney in question and could lead to reviews.

Aside from violating the ban, the city’s police also stand accused of withholding documentation such as annual reports and use policies. According to the Surveillance Technology Ordinance, each San Francisco department possessing pre-existing equipment must submit an inventory, impact policy and use policy of its surveillance technologies. The SFPD has refused to submit 42 use policies for four years, Secure Justice says.

The organization’s Executive Director Brian Hofer called for an investigation into SDPD’s use of facial recognition, citing cases of false arrests and wrongful incarceration throughout the country and SFPD’s “lengthy and troubling history of racist policing practices. He added that San Francisco has at least 60 surveillance ordinance violations.

“I helped draft the ordinance,” he told the San Francisco Standard. “and have bent over backward ever since trying to get SFPD to comply, but they’ve ignored every single right-to-cure letter.”

The city, however, has been attempting to carve out exemptions in the surveillance law. The latest was initiated by San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed and passed by voters in March.

Breed’s Proposition E relaxed some of the standards in the law, allowing police departments to acquire surveillance equipment and then ask for approval within one year. The regulation also empowers SFPD to install CCTV cameras and deploy drones without oversight from the Board of Supervisors or Police Commission.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  criminal ID  |  facial recognition  |  lawsuits  |  police  |  San Francisco