The use of facial recognition broke bureau policy and, later, city law.
by Juliette Rihl
Pittsburgh police officers accessed the facial recognition technology Clearview AI over the course of a year, including during Black Lives Matter protests last summer. The use of the technology violated police policy and, in some later cases, broke city law.
Email records obtained via a public records request show 10 Pittsburgh Bureau of Police officers signed up for Clearview trial accounts between December 2019 and December 2020. Seven officers had trial accounts in June, at the height of local and national Black Lives Matter protests.
Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson Cara Cruz said members of the bureau were working with other agencies that were already using Clearview following the Black Lives Matter protests on May 30 and June 1. “As a result, some Pittsburgh Police members did try the technology during that time period,” Cruz wrote in an email to PublicSource, adding that it was done without the knowledge or permission of police command staff.
Employees of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office also signed up for Clearview trials during the protests, PublicSource previously reported, though email records do not indicate if it was used in relation to the demonstrations. The office would not comment on whether it was used in partnership with the Pittsburgh police.
Councilman Corey O’Connor, who sponsored the bill regulating facial recognition, said it was intended to make sure the city and public safety department were transparent when considering such technologies. He said he was concerned that they could be used during protests or demonstrations, heightening the need to have regulations on the books.
“We will continue to monitor this situation to make sure that the City follows the new regulations, but it is important for Council and the public to know exactly how and why officers used facial recognition technologies after the regulations went into effect,” he wrote in an email statement to PublicSource.
Clearview is a controversial startup that scrapes photos from the internet and compiles them into a database for law enforcement’s use. While some law enforcement officials have praised the app as a useful tool for solving crimes, it has been criticized by lawmakers, privacy advocates and the social media companies it relies on for data.
(Photo via iStock)
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