San Francisco made history in 2019 when its Board of Supervisors voted to ban city agencies, including the Police Department, from using facial recognition. About two dozen other U.S. cities have since followed suit. But San Francisco voters on Tuesday appeared to reject the idea of limiting police technology, backing a ballot initiative that would make it easier for city police to deploy drones and other surveillance tools.
Proposition E passed with 60% of the vote and was supported by San Francisco Mayor London Breed. It gives the San Francisco Police Department new freedoms to install public safety cameras and deploy drones without oversight from the city’s Police Commission or Board of Supervisors. It also relaxes the requirement that the SFPD get approval from the Board of Supervisors before adopting new surveillance technology, allowing approval to be sought at any time during the first year.
Matt Cagle, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, said the changes preserve existing facial recognition bans but loosen other important protections. “We are concerned that Proposition E will expose the people of San Francisco to unproven and dangerous technologies,” he said. “This is a cynical attempt by powerful interests to exploit fears of crime and transfer more power to the police.”
Mayor Breed and other supporters positioned it as an answer to concerns about crime in San Francisco. Crime numbers are generally down, but fentanyl has been linked to a recent increase in drug overdose deaths, and the downtown business community is still dealing with office and retail vacancies caused by the pandemic. The proposal also has support from groups associated with the tech industry, including campaign group GrowSF, which did not respond to a request for comment.
“By supporting police officers in their work, expanding the use of technology, and getting officers out of behind desks and onto the streets, we will continue to fulfill our mission to make San Francisco a safer place,” Mayor Breed said in a statement. Cities.” Regarding the adoption of the proposal. She noted that the city’s crime rate in 2023 was the lowest it has been in a decade (except during the pandemic in 2020), and that property crime and violent crime rates will continue to decline further in 2024.
Proposition E also gives police more freedom to pursue suspects during car chases and reduces paperwork obligations, including when officers resort to force.
Caitlin Seeley George, managing director and campaign director at Fight for the Future, a nonprofit that has long opposed the use of facial recognition, called the proposal “a blow to the hard reforms that San Francisco has advocated for in recent years.” “. Under surveillance. “
“Expanding police use of surveillance technology while reducing oversight and transparency undermines people’s rights and puts people at greater risk of harm,” George said.
While the ACLU’s Cagle also worries that San Francisco citizens will be less safe, he said the city should retain its national reputation for resisting surveillance. After San Francisco banned facial recognition in 2019, about two dozen other cities followed suit, many of which also added new police surveillance oversight mechanisms.