Massachusetts police are using facial recognition technology to build a database of everyone they've arrested.
Sheriff’s departments across Massachusetts are using facial recognition technology to build a database of every suspect they book, an electronic lineup that local police could soon tap remotely with a handheld device attached to a smartphone.
The device, made by a Plymouth firm called BI2 Technologies, weighs about 12 ounces and can scan an iris, take a fingerprint, or assess a face and then immediately check someone’s identity against national and local databases.
“It fits in the palm of your hand; it’s completely noninvasive,’’ said Brockton Police Chief William Conlon, whose department tested a prototype of the device and who hopes to acquire one permanently.
Essex County, the first in the state to adopt the facial recognition program in booking suspects more than five years ago, has already assembled a database of more than 70,000 photos and allows detectives from around the county to use it, said Sheriff Frank G. Cousins Jr. The handheld device, known as the Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, would tap into that database and other national collections to help police identify suspects who are offering fake identities or who are wanted on other charges.
That futuristic capability is enticing law enforcement authorities but worrying privacy rights lawyers who say that technology is outpacing policy that would protect privacy.
A number of questions are unresolved, such as how long the images of suspects will be stored, whether they will be shared with the FBI, and what happens to the images of people who are cleared of charges.
“There’s simply no good reason, in our view, to create detailed dossiers on every American resident,’’ said Kade Crockford of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. “And increasingly it appears as if all of these surveillance programs and technological programs are doing just that. We want to make sure there are proper protections around these technologies, so they’re not abused.’’
For now, the application is being used to scan images of those being processed at correctional facilities and booking stations.
Link:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/18/device_allows_facial_recognition_data_to_be_tapped_remotely/