Rules Committee accepts inaugural annual surveillance reports; COIT flags four face-recognition requests

On April 17, 2023, the Rules Committee voted unanimously to accept 31 annual surveillance reports submitted by 21 city departments under Chapter 19B of the Administrative Code.

Jillian Johnson, director representing the Committee on Information Technology (COIT), presented the reports and described COIT's standardization work for this inaugural reporting year, noting deadlines for departments and that many reported no violations or proposed changes. The packet covered technologies including audio recorders, automated license-plate readers, drones, RFID, security cameras and face recognition.

Johnson told the committee that Chapter 19B "explicitly states that it shall be unlawful for any department to obtain, retain, access, or use any information obtained from face recognition technology," and she reported four incidents in which police officers requested face-recognition data from external cooperating law enforcement agencies; no matches were returned and no outside data were shared. COIT requested an addendum from the Police Department summarizing those incidents, the dates and corrective actions to ensure compliance going forward.

A public commenter (David Pilpel) praised COIT's work and suggested greater specificity in department responses about which job titles should have access to surveillance data. The committee moved and voted unanimously to forward acceptance of the reports to the full Board.

The committee also discussed resource needs for COIT to manage the reporting process and encouraged departments to cooperate in producing clear, specific responses to COIT's standardized reporting instrument.