RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, facial recognition technology provides an invaluable tool for law enforcement in the apprehension of suspects and criminals, as well as identifying the whereabouts of missing persons; and
WHEREAS, on June 28, 2018 the Capital Gazette shooter, who killed five and gravely wounded several others, was promptly identified because law enforcement had access to facial recognition technology in spite of the shooter mutilating his hands to avoid being fingerprinted; and
WHEREAS, INTERPOL, the Federal bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other law enforcement agencies employ facial recognition technology to streamline security screenings, apprehend criminal suspects, and locate missing persons; and
WHEREAS, sixteen (16) states allow the FBI to use facial recognition technology to compare the faces of suspected criminals to driver's license and state issued identification photos; and
WHEREAS, according to researchers at the Georgetown Law School, as of 2016, one in every two American adults - 117 million people-are in facial-recognition networks used by law enforcement in the country, a number that is likely higher today; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has employed a facial recognition system called NeoFace since 2013; and
WHEREAS, in the first documented usage of facial recognition technology by Chicago law enforcement in 2013, a Chicago Transit Authority surveillance camera picked up an image of a man who had just taken another man's cellphone at gunpoint, CPD ran the photo through a database employing facial recognition technology and confirmed a match; and
WHEREAS, then-State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said that, "this case is a great example that these high-tech tools are helping to enhance identification and lead us to defendants that might otherwise evade capture;'' and
WHEREAS, at the present time, there are no federal laws specifically governing the use of facial recognition technology; and
WHEREAS, the State of Illinois prohibit priv...
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