(HAMDEN, CONN. WTIC)-The Hamden Legislative Council has passed an ordinance banning the use of facial recognition technology by local government employees and law enforcement.
Council member Brad MacDowall, who-co-wrote the new ordinance, said it's a privacy issue with racial consequences when photographs are fed into facial technology software and matched with hundreds of other photographs.
MacDowall said the ordinance was written with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, which already had guidelines in place. The ordinance was adopted to adjust for racial consequences.
"Faces of color are disproportionately misidentified. Black and Asian women particularly face significant rates of misidentification through this technology. So what you're seeing is a furthering of racial consequences of modern policing tactics," he said.
The ordinance means if the Police Department wants to use that technology it must first obtain Council approval. MacDowall calls that a big step, providing good oversight.
The new ordinance passed the Council unanimously.