Mall of America (MOA) in Bloomington, Minnesota recently announced the implementation of facial recognition technology in their security system. This technology will be used to identify individuals that are considered “persons of interest” (POIs) within the mall. A POI could be someone who has been trespassed from MOA, a potential threat, reported by law enforcement, or someone who is missing or in danger.
The facial recognition system at MOA is designed to only search for matches to uploaded photos of POIs. If there is no match, no data is stored and the system does not track or retain any information on non-POIs. If a match is found, an alert is sent to the security team who then conduct an investigation that includes human visual review to confirm the match.
Vice President of Security at MOA, Will Bernhjelm, stated that the use of this technology is essential in ensuring the safety of everyone at the mall. With the massive size of MOA, the security team cannot be everywhere at once, so the technology helps them to quickly identify individuals of interest and maintain the safety of the mall and its guests. The decision to implement facial recognition technology comes as other cities, such as Minneapolis, have restricted its use due to concerns over privacy and social justice issues.
In 2021, the Minneapolis City Council voted to ban the use of facial recognition technology in most cases, with only “narrow exceptions” allowed. This decision followed a campaign by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, which raised concerns about the invasion of privacy and potential biases associated with the technology. Other cities like Boston and San Francisco have also banned the use of facial recognition technology.
FOX 9 reached out to the ACLU for comment on the implementation of facial recognition technology at MOA, and will update the story if a response is received.