Mobile Biometric Technologies (Texas Department of Public Safety)

Dear Custodian of Records/Public Records Coordinator,

I am collaborating with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public interest group, and the media organization MuckRock, to survey how law enforcement agencies deploy mobile biometric technologies.

Mobile biometric technologies can be defined as any mobile device or mobile app used by law enforcement agencies to scan, capture, analyze, store, or automatically recognize any physical or biological characteristic of a subject. Commonly used mobile biometric technologies include fingerprint/thumbprint collection, facial recognition, scans of the iris or other elements of the human eye, Rapid DNA, and tattoo recognition. (Please see below for examples.)

Pursuant to Texas Public Information Act, I request the following records pertaining to mobile biometric technologies, including those listed above, as well as other biometric technologies I have not identified:

1) Purchasing and procurement documents, including but not limited to: purchase orders, RFPs, responses to RFPs, invoices and contracts

2) Policy, procedural, and training documents, including but not limited to: use policies, standard operating procedures, training materials, presentations, privacy assessments, data retention policies, and other guidelines

3) Programming documents, including but not limited to: funding opportunity announcements, grant applications and grantor status/progress reports, reports to legislative bodies, annual reports

4) Audit documents, including but not limited to: audits of the system, misuse reports, and reports to oversight bodies

In your response, I would appreciate that you individually address each of the above categories of documents individually.

In addition to the above classes of documents, I am also seeking the following information:

- The total number of individuals whose biometric data has been collected over the last three years,
- The total number of [biometric data points] contained in the agency’s database
- The retention period for biometric data
- The number of mobile biometrics devices purchased and in use
- The total number of authorized users of the mobile biometrics devices
- Which external agencies and entities have access to biometric data in the database and under what conditions,
- Whether biometric data is combined with biographic data such as name and address in the database, and
- The process by which data is entered into the database

These documents will be published online and inform the public dialog over police technology. Because of the great public interest in these issues, I ask that you waive any fees. If your agency is unable to do so, please contact me with an estimate of the costs.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Evelyn Butler

Examples:

Mobile facial recognition
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/nov/08/cir-facial-recognition-software-san-diego/

Mobile fingerprint readers
http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1824&issue_id=62009

Mobile iris scanners
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/us-crime-identification-iris-idUSTRE76J4A120110720

Rapid DNA
http://www.policemag.com/channel/technology/articles/2014/02/speeding-up-dna-analysis.aspx

Mobile Tattoo Recognition
http://www.lawofficer.com/articles/print/volume-10/issue-4/features/new-smartphone-app-interprets.html

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 17, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

Dear Mr. Lealos,

Thank you for responding to our request. Here are our answers:

"Regarding the total number of individuals whose biometric data has been collected over the last three years, are you asking for just biometric acquired by mobile devices, biometrics DPS has acquired, or biometrics submitted to us by other authorized entities?"

If you have a numerical breakdown for each of the categories you have listed, we would indeed be interested in learning that information.

"What is the definition of the 'total number of biometric data points' contained in the agency’s database?"

This depends on how your system stores information. If your system has a single file per person, then it would be the same response as the previous item. If you have a different entries per person (for example, a different entry for each time you capture someone’s mugshot for a facial recognition system) then we would be interested in the total number of mugshots.

"For what types of biometric data are you seeking the agency retention period?”

As noted in our original request, we are specifically seeking fingerprints, facial recognition, eyes, tattoos,DNA, or other biometric measurement that you may be collecting.

"Which are you looking for, the total number of authorized users of the mobile biometrics devices by DPS or LEAS statewide?"

If you have a numerical breakdown for each of the categories you have listed, we would indeed be interested in learning that information.

Thanks!

Hi,

Can we narrow this request to:

* Just the brand names of the equipment.
* Copies of the policies for using the equipment.

Would that reduce the costs?

Thanks for your help!