The El Cerrito Police Department is using Clearview AI facial recognition technology to help identify suspects and solve crimes.
“Ultimately, this technology will help us pursue justice for crime victims and improve the quality of life for our residents,” police said.
Facial recongition technology uses algorithms to compare photographs or video of a person with facial images against others from a database, the El Cerrito Police Department reported in a November 2024 presentation about the technology.
“A typical facial recognition system uses the layout of a subject’s facial features, and
their relative distance from one another, for identification comparison against a separate
image, or images, in a database or gallery of faces,” police said.
Once the technology identifies a lead, a human examiner determines if the image is a potential lead in a particular case.
Police said the technology will assist in identifying crime victims and witnesses whose identities are unknown, and also assist in identifying a lost child or disoriented adult.
Nationally, the technology has been attributed to identifying multiple suspects in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots. Locally last year, it helped identify the suspect in a sexual battery case at El Cerrito Safeway, along with the suspect in a shooting at McBears Social Club.
The emergence of facial recognition technology in recent years has been controversial, with critics questioning the ethics of companies that collect images from the Internet — including social media, news websites and public databases — without the knowledge or permission of those pictured. While there are benefits, the technology’s potential for abuse as tools of mass surveillance raise civil liberty concerns.
The El Cerrito Police Department said it would use facial recognition in compliance with federal and state laws and department policies. Police officials promised to use it only for official investigations, deployed only by detectives trained in using the software. Regular audits and logs of the system aim to ensure the technology is being used appropriately, officials added.Â
Police also point out that identifications through the system are considered investigative leads, but not evidence, as using the images as evidence in court has faced legal challenges in a number of high profile cases.
