I-Team Exclusive: “Your Face ID”
Law enforcement is tapping into facial recognition technology now more than ever to help them identify potential criminal suspects. KESQ’s I-Team Reporter Karen Devine took an exclusive tour of Cal ID, run by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, to learn more about the facial recognition process, what databases are used to identify potential leads and how the public has become key in providing pictures and video.
Cal ID is a bureau of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department that provides identification services for not only the sheriff’s department but for all municipalities across Riverside County. That includes fingerprints, iris capture and for the past 6 years facial recognition. Privacy advocates argue facial recognition in the hands of law enforcement could infringe on our civil rights.
Lt. Mark Rigali, Bureau Commander at Cal ID addresses some of those concerns. “The big concern is that law enforcement are reaching into photo repositories, people, everyday Americans who are in no way affiliated with criminal activity and I am happy to tell you that we do not do that and we haven’t done that and we won’t do that.”
According to Lt. Rigali, Cal ID only searches booking photos, people booked into county jail for suspected criminal activity. And, even then, when a potential suspect is revealed it is only a lead when it comes to the investigation.
“We’re very clear with them up front it may or may not be your suspect, this person may or may not be connected to the crime you are investigating at all, but again the real value is that it offers them the opportunity to start somewhere.”
And, Lt. Rigali says it’s been successful, take a look at the numbers.
In 2017 there were 1015 requests for facial recognition services and 305 leads were generated.
In 2018 from January to August, so far there have been 843 requests generating 308 leads.
Home security systems like the Ring device, which acts as a doorbell that streams audio and video right to a users cell phone have become very popular. More and more people are catching “package pirates,” and others who don’t belong on their front porch on video then sending it to law enforcement who can process it through their facial recognition system.
Like millions of Americans, La Quinta resident Tom Sullivan has installed security systems on his home to help ward off criminals and if necessary help catch people “up to no good” in the neighborhood.
“Well I did it because of some of the little things I hear about happening around the neighborhood and I would really be safe than sorry.”
When asked if he thought the idea of law enforcement using his video of a suspect might be a bit “big brother” too much government involvement, he told Devine, “Not at all, I don’t think so, I think the more the better especially the way it is today, things have changed in the last 10 to 15 years and I think it’s gotten better to be able to recognize it and catch these people in the process of what they’re doing.”
Lt. Mark Rigali says, “The truth is that we can be aggressive in investigating criminal activity utilizing this technology to the best of our ability and still respect individual citizen’s rights.”
Again, Riverside County’s database solely consists of booking photos, Cal ID can dip into San Bernardino and L.A. County’s booking looking for potential leads. They are not connected with the Department of Motor Vehicles or any social media databases.
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