Facial recognition requests, reports, and associated materials (San Diego Law Enforcement Coordination Center)
| Multi Request | Facial recognition requests, reports, and associated materials |
| Submitted | Jan. 5, 2021 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Dave Gershgorn
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
- All requests for facial recognition searches and associated reports made by local, county, state, or federal law enforcement. This can be in the form of email requests to individuals or agency email accounts, as well as requests submitted through a standardized form or web portal. Please limit the scope of this portion of the request to January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020.
- Any reports (weekly, monthly, annual, or otherwise), presentations, spreadsheets, or memoranda relating to, or referencing, the volume or efficacy of facial recognition searches. If this does not formally exist, I request this portion of the request be filled by usage log files exported from the agency’s facial recognition databases. Please limit the scope of this portion of the request to January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020.
- All training materials for the use of facial recognition technology.
- The privacy policy that governs this agencies’ use of facial recognition search tools. If there is no specific privacy policy for facial recognition, then I request any privacy policy for the use of biometric searches.
I am a member of the news media, and am requesting this information to disseminate it to the public. Transparent and ethical use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement is an important topic to the public, making this request newsworthy. The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
Given my standing as a journalist and the scope of this request, I request a fee waiver and expedited processing of my request.
Please notify me if any portion of this request needs to be clarified. In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or USB drive if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter.
I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Dave Gershgorn
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following California Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 5, 2021. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: San Diego Law Enforcement Coordination Center
Dear Mr. Gershgorn:
The SD-LECC is in receipt of your request dated and received January 6, 2021, requesting records pursuant to the California Public Records Act (CPRA). Specifically, you request records related to facial recognition technology.
Preliminarily, it must be stated that the SD-LECC is not a "public agency" within the meaning of the California Public Records Act. It is a work location staffed with personnel from multiple local, state, and federal agencies working towards common operating goals, akin to a law enforcement "task force." While a task force may, under certain circumstances, be considered a "public agency" within the meaning of the California Public Records Act and the Brown Act, those circumstances do not exist with regard to the SD-LECC. Nevertheless, the SD-LECC, in the spirit of public disclosure and openness, is responding to the request as if the SD-LECC were a self-contained, distinct public agency. The SD-LECC responds to each individual request as follows:
Request 1: All requests for facial recognition searches and associated reports made by local, county, state, or federal law enforcement. This can be in the form of email requests to individuals or agency email accounts, as well as requests submitted through a standardized form or web portal. Please limit the scope of this portion of the request to January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020.
Response: The SD-LECC does not utilize a facial recognition system; all requests are referred to agencies that have facial recognition capabilities. Please note, that one of the agencies that processes these requests is Border Patrol and they do have employees who work in the SD-LECC building. To the extent that the SD-LECC has copies of the "requests for facial recognition searches and associated reports" that are processed and created by partner agencies, this request is denied pursuant to Government Code section 6254(f). Records of a law enforcement investigation, or any investigatory or security files compiled by a law enforcement agency are exempt from disclosure. Cal. Gov't. Code § 6254(f); Haynie v. Superior Court, 26 Cal. 4th 1061, 1071-72 (2001).
Request 2: Any reports (weekly, monthly, annual, or otherwise), presentations, spreadsheets, or memoranda relating to, or referencing, the volume or efficacy of facial recognition searches. If this does not formally exist, I request this portion of the request be filled by usage log files exported from the agency's facial recognition databases. Please limit the scope of this portion of the request to January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020.
Response: The SD-LECC has no records responsive to this request as the SD-LECC does not utilize facial recognition technology. In response to your request for "usage log files exported from the agency's facial recognition databases", the SD-LECC has no records responsive to this request as the SD-LECC does not utilize facial recognition technology. All responsive documents would be in the possession of partner agencies that have facial recognition capabilities.
Request 3: All training materials for the use of facial recognition technology.
Response: The SD-LECC has no records responsive to this request as the SD-LECC does not utilize facial recognition technology.
Request 4: The privacy policy that governs this agencies' use of facial recognition search tools. If there is no specific privacy policy for facial recognition, then I request any privacy policy for the use of biometric searches.
Response: The SD-LECC is providing a copy of the Privacy Policy. The San Diego County Sheriff's Department maintains all current standards, policies, practices, operating procedures, and education and training materials that would otherwise be available to the public through a CPRA request on the following website: https://www.sdsheriff.net/SB978.html.
Sincerely,
San Diego Law Enforcement Coordination Center
