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MORGANTOWN - Morgantown City Councilor Joe Abu-Ghannam said he is working with city staff on an ordinance regarding the use of facial recognition technology on city-owned property.
His comments, shared at the end of Tuesday's meeting, come as public pushback against the Monongalia County Commission's implementation of Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras continues to ramp up.
While the 20 cameras deployed by the county do not utilize facial recognition software according to information shared by the Monongalia County Sheriff's Office, cameras with that capability are available.
"It's something that I've talked with our city manager and with our city attorney about for quite a while in terms of my big concern, not necessarily with a brand being Flock, but just the overall idea of facial recognition technology on city property," Abu-Ghannam said. “So it's something that we've been working on an ordinance to be able to address."
Abu-Ghannam said the ordinance could be before council as soon as next month.
"Hopefully in the month of September. Probably not next week because we were going to discuss a few portions of it. But it is recognized and it is a concern I have shared for a long time. I'm glad to see that we are going to be able to bring it forward in September. I wish we could have done it sooner."
The city has one pole-mounted license plate reader camera, located at the corner of High and Wall streets.
Further, the city has 49 security cameras located throughout the downtown based on a 2023 contract with Verkada.
A representative of the city previously said none of the city's cameras have facial recognition capabilities.
Outgoing 7th Ward Councilor Brian Butcher said he hopes council will take steps to keep it that way, stating his own concerns with AI and Flock-style surveillance networks.
"I hope that council does take some limiting action on those - on facial recognition, AI tracking, AI in general. We're already behind the curve because it's evolved so quickly, and it poses a lot more threats than just Flock. But that's the one people can see in their face and see that it is doing things that are incredibly dangerous, and already has tons of cases of abuse."
Butcher continued.
"You may think that we have the best intentions with it. We may. But the people who have access to the data, and the ways it can be used nefariously ... It's just something that we have to get our hands around."