Berkeley, CA Privacy & Surveillance: Facial Recognition Ban (2026)

Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 2.99, the Acquisition and Use of Surveillance Technology ordinance, contains an outright ban on facial recognition rather than merely regulating it. Section 2.99.030(5) states that notwithstanding any other provision of the chapter, it is a violation for the City Manager or any person acting on the City Manager's behalf, which reaches the Berkeley Police Department, to obtain, retain, request, access, or use any Face Recognition Technology, or any information obtained from it. The chapter defines "Face Recognition Technology" at Section 2.99.020(6) as an automated or semi-automated process that assists in identifying or verifying an individual based on the individual's face, and lists facial recognition software as an example of the broader "Surveillance Technology" the ordinance governs.

Two narrow carve-outs apply: personal communication devices such as city-issued cell phones are excluded, and evidence relating to the investigation of a specific crime that was generated by facial recognition but not intentionally solicited is not a violation. Inadvertent or unintentional receipt of facial recognition information also escapes the ban, but only if the City Manager or staff did not request or solicit it, all copies are promptly destroyed on discovery, and the information is never used for any purpose; any such inadvertent receipt must still be logged in the City's Annual Surveillance Technology Report under Section 2.99.030(5).

This sits inside a broader council-approval regime: before acquiring any other Surveillance Technology, the City Manager must bring a Surveillance Acquisition Report and Surveillance Use Policy to the City Council on the Action Calendar and route it through the Police Review Commission first, per Section 2.99.030(1)-(3). The ban was added by Ordinance 7676-NS in 2019, amending the original 2018 surveillance ordinance (7592-NS).