The El Cerrito Police Department announced this week it was now using Clearview AI for facial recognition to assist them in police activities.
The police department said they will be testing out the software for the next year at a cost of $7k and there is a database of 30 billion photographs in the database where they can pull from.
The February 13 announcement said:
“The El Cerrito Police Department is excited to announce we will be leveraging technology to help us solve crime. We will be using Clearview AI for facial recognition which will help us identify criminal suspects and solve crimes. Ultimately, this technology will help us pursue justice for crime victims and improve the quality of life for our residents”
The move comes after police provided the city council a presentation back on November 19, 2024 where El Cerrito Police Chief Paul Keith spoke about police investments in technology along with planned programs which include facial recognition software, license plate readers and drones.
Here is an overview from the Nov 19 presentation:
Facial Recognition Software
Chief Paul Keith explained the current process they take to identify a suspect is they will ask “in house” if anyone recognizes the suspect. The second step is a “wanted flyer”—technology from 1800’s—which they share with other agencies seeking help identifying, or with media. He noted sometimes people give bad information or investigation may not lead to the right suspect. But sometimes the process works—but its not regular and often unresolved.
Captain Elise Warren explained the AI system compares the photograph of a person to other photographs or videos in a database—mapping the face/features and turns it into an algorithm and compares them against other photos looking for matches. It will then return a bunch of photographs based upon matches. The system could also do an age progression, if needed.
Warren shared how El Cerrito Police would intend to use the technology: often times PD receives still photo or video where traditional methods may or may not work. Instead, they could upload it into a database where the company has 3 billion photographs taken from publicly available sites, including social media. El Cerrito PD would upload the photo and return to them photographs from most likely and work its way down.
“It contains more photographs than any human could compare against. It would take the human years to look through billions of photographs where the computer can do it within minutes,” explained Warren.
El Cerrito would use it for criminal investigations and assist in identifying investigative leads. Assist victims in identifying crime victims and witnesses whose identities are unknown. Also, to assist in identifying a lost child or disoriented adult
Chief Keith added he sometimes arrives on scene of a crime that has taken place, the crowd dwindles and a handful of people are willing to talk, now they have the ability to identify those who were there and talk to them later—he called it a powerful tool.
He continued, sharing how AI has helped law enforcement identify suspects in a variety of cases including the January 6 capital riots while locally assisting with an El Cerrito Safeway sexual battery cases while also assisting in a shooting case at McBears.
Keith stated they currently do not use AI, however, within an hour of them sending out a suspect photo for a sexual battery case to other agencies, they got a call from the San Joaquin County stating they identified their suspect—they put it through a facial recognition software, the suspect lived in the City of Richmond and police held him accountable for their crime. In another case, two outside agencies helped them identify a shooter using AI technology (San Joaquin County and Sacramento).
Best Practices:
- El Cerrito PD would use it in accordance with all federal and state laws, with department policies.
- El Cerrito Investigators would be the only ones using it. Logs and audits would occur to ensure only appropriate uses are occurring.
- Agencies already using it: Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Joaquin County, Sacramento County, Elk Grove Police Department.
Keither shared during a community forum some in the community had concerns, however, they are using Detroit has its model where their policy is a 95% match—it requires that when there is a match on a face, it does not mean it’s the person, but rather an investigative lead.
“It doesn’t mean they are the person, but rather there is follow up investigation to be done,” stated Keith. “If you have witnesses, there is photo lineups to be do to see if they recognize a person, additional evidence to collect.”
He noted in Detroit, one of the issues they originally had was they would use photographs as proof a crime was committed and used a booking photo as a match, the chief called that a “no-no”.
He further explained El Cerrito Police will be required to go collect additional evidence that connects a person to a crime before they make an arrest and write an arrest warrant – cell phone data, physical evidence (DNA or fingerprints), set up the suspects day, but not simply off a photograph match.
The cost for the program is $7k a year and they will be doing a 1-year pilot program to see the value.
“In my opinion, if we were to solve two violent crimes, to me the system would pay for itself,” said Keith. “There is certainly a balance between privacy and holding people accountable.”
He again said while he heard the 3 billion number, he said he thought it was 30 billion photographs because anything placed on the internet gets scooped up. He also shared Clearview AI is only based on what is taken from the public realm and doesn’t include what is taken from the private realm such as booking photographs or California DMV—just what people put out in the public realm.
“We are basically leveraging that,” said Keith noting while people can opt citing a consumer privacy protection law.
Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Wysinger asked about deepfakes and protecting the community or targeted by deepfakes.
Keith admitted this was a hot topic and there are system out there that help you recognize them. He did call it a concern in any investigation.
Councilmember Gabe Quinto says using TSA they are having photographs finding his mug shot because he is Asian American about how facial recognition is not perfect—especially for communities of color.
“They just can’t find me then they want my fingerprints, then they find me,” stated Quinto. “Not with all the photographs they are taking and they are taking a lot of photographs.”
Keith did not know the database TSA is checking him against but Clearview AI does pride themselves on being a learning system and getting better while technology continues to increase. He shared concerns from community that people of color were not being matched well, which the system worked on programming to overcome challenges. He added other systems are working to improve across the world—but said its something why they take extra steps, not going only off the photograph.
License Plate Readers:
For time zone enforcement on abandoned vehicles as well as locating stolen vehicles. This comes from an August 24 meeting to alert the public. This will also allow the city to utilize it for a parking management system, online permitting and time zone/permit parking – reduce staff time by not physically marking tires in time zones or taking photographs.
“Ideally it will lead to higher productivity as we are addressing parking around town” explained Kieth noting it works by once being installed, they are constantly checking the vehicle against the time zone they are located in. “When it identifies a car that’s been there longer than the time zone allows, it alerts the operator of the car and the operator has a prompt to be able to write a citation for the car that’s been there too long.”
He noted it will replace the physical process of time zone enforcement where they have a 3-wheel vehicle their community service officer drives around with a stick and a bag of chalk.
It also allows them to create a list of exempt vehicles, those with different types of permits, the license plate would act like a permit.
The cost is $44k in year 1 followed by $6-7,000 a year for software license to run the system. The funds are coming from the vehicle abatement fund—a fund designed to address vehicle parking and abandoned vehicles. The company elected was IP Solutions and Data Ticket.
“That combination of companies is exactly what they would intend to recommend that we use anyway,” said Keith.
Drone Deployment
Goal of the drone program to become a department that has drones as first responders in high priority incidents in the area. This would be a regional level program in partnership with Richmond Police, San Pablo Police, Hercules Police and Pinole Police—basically the corridor agencies in West Contra Costa County. In future years, drones will be sent to the location and sent back to officers.
- Currently have 12 officers trained on drones
- Will have 4 drones by end of 2025.
- Used on search warrants, suspect searches
Presentation:
To watch the full presentation from Nov. 19, 2024 – click here which the council accepted and filed.
Related
- Jan 7, 2025 – META: More Speech and Fewer Mistakes
- March 6, 2023 – Assemblywoman Lori Wilson Introduces Facial Recognition Bill
