Hays County, Texas, commissioners recently approved the sheriff’s office filling out an order form with Clearview AI, a facial recognition company that provides software to law enforcement, government agencies and other organizations.
The agenda item said the sheriff’s office is approved to purchase Clearview AI software licenses in the FY 2024 budget.
“The software is a facial recognition software that will provide law enforcement with greater insight and lead generation through the use of its investigative platform,” the agenda item said.
The CEO of Clearview AI sent a statement to KXAN about its uses.
“AI is used by law enforcement agencies around the country for after-the-crime investigations to help identify criminal suspects and help solve crimes such as drug trafficking, human trafficking and child abuse. Clearview AI only searches publicly available information from the internet. It is not intended to be used as a real-time surveillance tool. Clearview AI requires its law enforcement customers to provide a case number and crime type to ensure an audit trail and to enforce responsible usage of facial recognition and provides training for its customers,” Hoan Ton-That, CEO of Clearview AI said.