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2. Public more likely to see facial recognition use by police as good, rather than bad for society
Majorities believe facial recognition would help find missing persons, solve crimes but also think it would be used to surveil Black, Hispanic neighborhoods
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- 2. Public more likely to see facial recognition use by police as good, rather than bad for society
- Plurality of Americans think widespread use of facial recognition by police would be a good idea
- Widespread use of facial recognition technology by police seen more negatively by younger adults, those who have hear a lot about the topic
- 57% of Americans say the widespread use of facial recognition technology by police won’t change crime rates in the U.S.
- Majorities believe facial recognition would help find missing persons, solve crimes but also think it would be used to surveil Black, Hispanic neighborhoods
- 48% of Black adults say police definitely would use facial recognition to monitor Black, Hispanic neighborhoods more often than other neighborhoods
- 60% of Americans say people should assume they are being monitored in public
- Black adults less likely than Hispanic and White counterparts to say facial recognition will make policing fairer
- Majority of Americans don’t think facial recognition technology should be good enough evidence for arrest
- About six-in-ten say it’s acceptable for police to use facial recognition to monitor crowds, but 68% are not OK with scanning people walking down the street
- A majority of Americans say use of facial recognition software by police would be more acceptable if cops were trained in how these tools can make errors
- About half say police departments, federal agencies should play a major role in setting standards for police use of facial recognition technology
- Similar shares say government will go too far or not far enough regulating police’s facial recognition use, but this varies by party
- Roughly half of Americans favor use of facial recognition in retail stores and apartment buildings, they view other uses less favorably