The Perpetual Line-Up: Unregulated Police Face Recognition in America

Face recognition is the automated process of comparing two images of faces to determine whether they represent the same individual. Across the country, law enforcement performs face identification to identify individuals who refuse to identify themselves, compare mugshots against existing entries within their facial recognition database, find suspects, and to conduct real-time video surveillance. This report outlines the risks associated with law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology. In particular, law enforcement face recognition is unregulated by state law; major face recognition systems are not audited for misuse; most law enforcement agencies do little to ensure that their systems are accurate, and police face recognition disproportionately impacts Black Americans. Additionally, this report also provides recommendations that Congress, state legislatures, and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies can take to mitigate the harmful effects of face recognition.