Kirkland, WA Privacy & Surveillance: Facial Recognition Ban (2026)

Kirkland Municipal Code Chapter 11.94, Article II, flatly prohibits city government from using facial recognition technology. KMC 11.94.060 bars any city official or employee from obtaining, retaining, possessing, accessing, or using facial recognition technology, and blocks the city from contracting with a third-party vendor to run facial recognition on its behalf. The ban, added by Ordinance 4796 in 2022, was written because facial recognition systems are being developed for many public and private sector uses and raise concerns about accuracy, potential infringement on democratic freedoms, and discriminatory impact, as stated in KMC 11.94.050.

The prohibition is not absolute. KMC 11.94.070 carves out four narrow exceptions: automated redaction of public-records recordings under Chapter 42.56 RCW so long as no facial recognition data is generated or retained; personal use of facial recognition on privately owned consumer devices; biometric access control for secure building entry, provided any biometric identifiers are collected only with the subject's knowledge and consent, or for non-consenting persons only for security purposes under Chapter 19.375 RCW; and software that merely incorporates facial-recognition components without the city making any affirmative or intentional use of that function.

Enforcement runs through internal discipline rather than a civil infraction. KMC 11.94.020 states a violation of Chapter 11.94 is not punishable under the general penalty section, KMC 11.04.010(m), unless a section expressly says so; instead a city employee who breaks the rule may be subject to discipline under the city's disciplinary policies and any applicable collective bargaining agreement. The chapter sits alongside Kirkland's body-worn camera rules in Article III, which separately govern how police-worn cameras and their footage are managed.