# What the Facial Recognition Ban on Body Cameras Act Does

This bill would prevent police officers from using facial recognition technology on video footage captured by their body cameras. Right now, when officers wear body cameras to record interactions with the public, there's nothing stopping police departments from running that footage through facial recognition software to identify people. This bill would make that illegal for federal law enforcement agencies and would pressure state and local police departments to do the same by threatening to cut off federal funding if they don't adopt similar bans.

The bill covers not just facial recognition but also other biometric surveillance tools like voice recognition and gait recognition (identifying people by how they walk). The main concern behind this legislation is that body cameras, which were originally designed to create accountability and transparency in policing, could become something very different—essentially turning every police interaction into an opportunity to scan and identify people without their knowledge or consent. The bill's supporters argue this technology is particularly unreliable when identifying women, young people, people of color, and people with disabilities, which could lead to innocent people being wrongly identified and investigated.

The practical impact would be significant for anyone who interacts with police. If you're stopped by a federal officer or an officer in a state that adopts this ban, the video footage from their body camera couldn't be fed into facial recognition databases to identify you or track your movements. However, this wouldn't prevent police from using facial recognition on other sources of images—like security camera footage or driver's license photos—just not on body camera video specifically. The bill essentially draws a line saying that the transparency tool of body cameras shouldn't become a mass surveillance tool.

Facial Recognition Ban on Body Cameras Act

Beyer, Donald S.

Facial Recognition Ban on Body Cameras Act This bill establishes a framework to prohibit federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies from using facial recognition technology on images captured by body-worn cameras. Specifically, the bill prohibits federal law enforcement agencies from using facial recognition technology or other remote biometric surveillance systems on any image acquired by body-worn cameras of law enforcement officers. Additionally, the bill requires state and local governments to comply with a similar law or policy as a condition of receiving funds under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program.