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2. Public more likely to see facial recognition use by police as good, rather than bad for society
About half say police departments, federal agencies should play a major role in setting standards for police use of facial recognition technology
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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