Facial Recognition - San Antonio (TX)

Freddy Martinez filed this request with the San Antonio Police Department of San Antonio, TX.

It is a clone of this request.

Tracking #

W272135-070319

Est. Completion None
Status
Awaiting Appeal

Communications

From: Freddy Martinez

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Records and materials related to the solicitation, acquisition, and use of face recognition technology and related software and services.

This software or services may be provided by Rekognition, Face++, and FaceFirst; this request is applicable to these and any other company providing facial recognition services under consideration or contract with this agency.

Responsive materials include but are not limited to:

• Agreements: contracts (including non-disclosure agreements), licensing agreements, nondisclosure agreements
• Bid records: Requests For Proposal (or equivalent calls for bids), sole source or limited source justification and approval documentation, documentation of selection, and other materials generated in the consideration and selection of the technology in question
• Company relations and communications: records related to meetings or follow-up actions with any vendors, companies, or other private entities marketing face recognition to this agency for immigration, intelligence, law enforcement, or other use.
• Financial records: purchase orders, invoices, and other memoranda and documentation.
• Marketing records: All marketing materials - unsolicited, requested, or otherwise - acquired from vendors of face recognition technology
• Policy records: any policy directives, guidance documents, memoranda, training materials, or similar records governing the use of face recognition technology for immigration, law enforcement, or other purposes. Any memoranda of understanding between this agency and other agencies to share data, access remote systems or other forms of information sharing with external agencies.
• Training records: training material governing the use, sharing, or access to any related data related to or collected by the face recognition software/technology, including the legal standard that is required before using the technology. Documents, should they exist, about training for bias in the use of facial recognition technology.
• Use and function records: Materials that describe the function of the software considered or in use by this agency, including emails, handouts, PowerPoint presentations, advertisements, or specification documents.
• Data: Documents sufficient to describe the source of photos for facial recognition which may include your agency booking photos, other agency booking photos as well as DMV photos. Documents sufficient to show the number of photos in your facial recognition database. Documents that describe the data retention policy of your agency for facial recognition. Documents describing where your agencies use facial recognition technology including at county jails, on body worn cameras, fixed surveillance cameras etc.

Please limit the search to records produced from January 1, 2017 – present. Please include in your search as responsive records: communications, memorandums, background papers, meeting minutes, email exchanges, or presentation materials. If your office has questions about this request, please feel free to direct them to the address associated with this request or call the MuckRock office at 617-299-1832.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Freddy Martinez

From: San Antonio Police Department

Dear Freddy Martinez:

Thank you for your interest in public records of the City of San Antonio. Your request has been received and is being processed in accordance with Chapter 552 of Texas Government Code, the Public Information Act. Your request was received in this office on 7/3/2019 and given the reference number W272135-070319 for tracking purposes.

Your request will be forwarded to the relevant City department(s) to locate the information you seek and to determine the volume and any costs associated with satisfying your request. You will be contacted about the availability and/or provided with copies of the records in question. PLEASE NOTE: The Texas Public Information Act does not require a governmental body to create new information, to do legal research, or to answer questions.

From: San Antonio Police Department

--- Please respond above this line ---

The City of San Antonio has reviewed its files and has determined there are no responsive documents to your request.
As we are not able to fulfill your request, we have closed it.
Sincerely,
Jennifer L. Perez
Police Audio/Video Record Specialist
San Antonio Police Department
Open Records Office
Public Safety Headquarters
315 South Santa Rosa Ave.
San Antonio, Texas 78207
O: (210) 207-7320
jennifer.perez@sanantonio.gov

From: Freddy Martinez

FOIA officers,

Respectfully, we request you remand this search for records. We know that industry groups routinely try to meet with police department to pitch them on facial recognition technology. As such, we should expect to email records.

However, our public records request goes beyond just the purchase of these systems by San Antonio Police Department. We are not asking if you have purchased the technology. We also requested documentation about any MOUs or other forms of agreements between your police department and other police departments to access it. We asked for a whole range of records, none of which the letter addresses.

Freddy Martinez
Policy Analyst, Open the Government

Files

There are no files associated with this request.