ASSEMBLY, No. 5616
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED MAY 5, 2025
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman AL ABDELAZIZ
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Assemblywoman ELLEN J. PARK
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires AG to study law enforcement use of facial recognition technology and issue report with recommendations for Statewide policy.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning facial recognition technology and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Attorney General shall study the use facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies and shall issue a report to the Governor and the Legislature, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), concerning the use of the technology. The report shall be issued within six months of the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
b. The report shall include, but not be limited to:
(1) an assessment of the facial recognition technology available for use by law enforcement agencies and the feasibility of its use, including accuracy;
(2) a Statewide summary of any current use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies for the purpose of generating police reports; and
(3) recommendations for implementing a Statewide policy applicable to State and local law enforcement agencies that governs the use of facial recognition technology.
c. As used in this section, "facial recognition technology" means a computer application which uses facial recognition algorithms to identify or verify a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Attorney General to study the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies and to issue a report on this use of the technology.
Under the bill, the report would be required to include, at a minimum:
1) an assessment of the facial recognition technology available for use by law enforcement agencies and the feasibility of its use, including accuracy;
(2) a Statewide summary of any current use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies for the purpose of generating police reports; and
(3) recommendations for implementing a Statewide policy applicable to State and local law enforcement agencies that governs the use of facial recognition technology.
The bill requires the Attorney General to issue the report and recommendations within six months of the bill's effective date. For the purposes of the bill, "facial recognition technology" means a computer application which uses facial recognition algorithms to identify or verify a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source.