WASHINGTON (June 6, 2022) — The White House released an Executive Order (EO) May 25, 2022, which outlines a number of wide-ranging directives from the Biden Administration aimed at enhancing public safety and improving community trust in law enforcement. The Order outlines broad actions described in 23 separate sections, including one which specifically addresses face recognition technology (FRT). The International Biometrics + Identity Association (IBIA) calls on the President to ensure that our industry community is included and participates in the required study, assessment and interagency reporting process.
Section 13 of the Executive Order directs the Attorney General to engage the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and its research arm, the National Research Council (NRC) to conduct a study of current usage of FRT and biometric technologies and publish a report detailing the findings. The Order also directs the initiation of an interagency process – jointly chaired by the U.S. Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) – to publish a report within 18 months that outlines industry best practices in FRT and biometric technologies, changes to law enforcement policies, and guidelines on the future use of such technologies by these law enforcement agencies (LEAs).
“Biometric technologies, like other technologies, are advancing exponentially, reaching levels of accuracy and speed that weren’t imagined even 5 years ago,” said John Mears, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IBIA. “Such advances, especially in face recognition, have proven the technology to be far more reliable and accurate than human witnesses and even trained officers. Given the budgetary pressures and increasing sophistication of criminals faced by LEAs, they need every advantage possible to protect the public.”
“However, as is sometimes the case, the pace of technology advances faster than the proliferation of associated policies, best practices, and training to use the technology,” Mears continued. “The setting of appropriate guidelines, training, and enforcement of processes surrounding the use of face recognition and other biometric technologies is critical to ensuring public trust and safety while respecting the rights of all people,” Mears said. “IBIA has been a leader in this regard since its inception in 1998, publishing analyses, best practices, a Code of Ethical Conduct, and guidelines for the responsible use of a wide array of biometric technologies. In the spirit of inclusivity, we call on the President to ensure that our wealth of experience and expertise, as well as our industry Members’ inputs, are included throughout the entire study and interagency process,” Mears added.
“As the President said in this Executive Order, ‘Protecting public safety requires close partnerships between law enforcement and the communities it serves.’ Our industry community is committed to playing an active role in that partnership,” Mears concluded.
