KEEP FACE SURVEILLANCE OFF POLICE BODY CAMERAS

Pass AB 1034

Body cameras were intended to guard against police misconduct, not to be used as a mass surveillance system that identifies and tracks Californians.

For three years, a state law prohibiting body camera face surveillance helped prevent the misidentification and wrongful imprisonment of Californians, safeguarded our freedom of speech, and protected our privacy. But that law expired in January.

Widespread use of face recognition on body cameras would be tantamount to requiring that everyone show their photo ID to every police officer they pass, further endangering immigrants and people of color who already are subject to over policing, racial profiling, and potentially fatal police encounters.

Furthermore, face recognition software is notoriously inaccurate and biased, generating up to 100 times more false positives for women and people of color. But even if the technology always correctly identified people, it would still be dangerous and a threat to our rights.

Tell your State Senator to protect Californians against face-scanning body cameras by voting YES on AB 1034.

Message Recipients:
Your California State Senator & Governor Gavin Newsom

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Subject

I’m writing in support of AB 1034, which would establish a 3-year moratorium on the use of face surveillance on police body cameras. AB 1034 protects Californians’ civil rights and privacy by ensuring that police can’t use body cameras to identify us and track our movements whenever we’re in public.

Message Body

Body cameras were intended to guard against police misconduct, not as a surveillance system to identify and track Californians. Allowing body cameras to become roving face recognition devices would subject millions of Californians to invasive surveillance, effectively requiring people to show their photo ID to every police officer they pass - an unacceptable mass violation of privacy. It would also facilitate the creation of new databases of immigrants’ faces, databases ICE has already demanded access to in other states.

Furthermore, studies have shown that face recognition software is dangerously inaccurate, especially for people of color and women. It will also perform even worse on images captured by officer body cameras because of the nature of body camera footage – captured by shaky cameras with wide angle lenses that warp people’s faces. In states that permit the widespread use of facial recognition, multiple Black men have been misidentified and wrongfully arrested.

Civil rights groups have advocated for banning the police from using this technology, warning that face surveillance is a unique threat to civil rights, to privacy, and to over-policed communities. Even Axon, the most prominent body camera maker, has rejected the use of facial recognition for body cameras, citing the potential for inaccuracy and abuse.

Ultimately, face-scanning body cameras would undermine the primary purpose of body cameras, which is to promote police accountability and deter misconduct. Adding face recognition to body cameras would lead to dangerous misidentifications, threatening Californians’ safety and civil rights.

All Californians should be worried about facial recognition on body cameras. Face-scanning body cameras won’t make our communities safer, but they will make us all less free. The only responsible standard for police use of face recognition is a total prohibition.

Please support AB 1034.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]

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KEEP FACE SURVEILLANCE OFF POLICE BODY CAMERAS

Pass AB 1034

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