California will become the third state in the U.S. to ban facial recognition technology in police body cameras after Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed a measure into law.
AB1215, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, bans biometric surveillance technology in body cameras as well as taking body camera footage and running it through facial recognition software later. However, police are not banned from using the technology on other cameras, and federal law enforcement could potentially use the software while operating in California.
Originally passed in September, the California law echoes efforts across the country to prevent law enforcement from using facial recognition in their investigations. Oregon and New Hampshire already have laws in place banning police from using it in body cameras, and cities like San Francisco and Oakland have forbidden it altogether.
No police agencies in California use facial recognition right now, according to the California Peace Officers’ Association. State Rep. Phil Ting, who led the effort to ban the technology alongside other criminal justice legislation, said the law was intended to prevent California from becoming a “police state.”
“We wanted to introduce legislation before it became a major issue,” Ting told reporters in September. “This is not just a California concern, this is a national concern, people have really … been much more sensitive to their privacy recently.” The California ban will last until at least 2023, when the measure expires and legislators will decide whether or not to renew it.
