Access limited to Ohio facial-recognition system

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office said it continues to reduce the number of law-enforcement officers statewide who have access to controversial facial-recognition technology.

The system rolled out last year allows police to take an image of an unknown person and run it through a database of 23 million Ohio driver’s license photos and prison mug shots to try to establish a match. State officials said it has resulted in at least one murder arrest.

About 30,000 police officers and others could directly access the system when it was first deployed. The American Civil Liberties Union and others complained that it invites abuse and privacy violations.

Access to the system has now been cut to 5,594, according to numbers released by DeWine’s office this week.