Elinor Smith

HELENA (UM Legislative News Service) -- A bill introduced in the Senate Business Labor and Economic Affairs committee would regulate how law enforcement agencies can use facial recognition technology in investigations. 

Sen. Kenneth Bogner, R-Miles City, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 397. He said the bill was based on similar laws passed in Arizona and Oregon. He said it would require law enforcement agencies to get a warrant and file a request through the Department of Justice to use facial recognition technology as a part of their investigation.

“This is a great start to putting sideboards on the government and its use of facial recognition technology. The main thing is it prohibits continuous surveillance. It cuts out the form of the technology most likely to be abused, and it still allows the departments to use the technology where it can be beneficial,” Bogner said.  

By ’continuous surveillance,’ Bogner means using facial recognition to watch the comings and goings from any given place 24/7. Currently there are no laws regulating the use of facial recognition in Montana. 

Law enforcement agencies would only be able to request approval to use facial recognition in the case of serious crimes wherein a suspect or a witness is unidentified, in missing persons cases and in identifying deceased people.

The defendant of a crime would also need to be notified if facial recognition technology would be presented in trial and probable cause for a case could not be built on facial recognition evidence alone.

There were two proponents of the bill, including Rep. Katie Sullivan, a Democrat who wanted to show bipartisan support of the bill. 

Kendall Cotton represented the Frontier Institute, an organization focused on limiting the power of government. 

“This bill addresses something that we've been talking about for a while, the importance and the need for creating a uniform, transparent standard for government use of facial recognition technology in this state to protect the privacy rights of Montanans,” Cotton said.  

There were three opponents of the bill, mostly representing law enforcement and security associations. They said that adding restrictions to what law enforcement agencies can and cannot do might interfere with their investigations and the bill isn’t ready to be passed into law yet.

They also said more serious crimes should be added into the bill. Jake Parker represented the Security Industry Association. 

“The bill before the committee reveals an incomplete product that still reflects some key misunderstandings of how the technology works and is used despite the work on it. This matters in Montana because it will have serious, unnecessary, and perhaps unintended consequences for public safety, both now and especially in the future,” Parker said.  

The Committee did not take immediate action on the bill. 

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