New Zealand Police

Established by the Independent Police Conduct Authority's published outcome of 30 November 2020, an official oversight body's own record. The Authority found that New Zealand Police trialled Clearview AI facial recognition software between February and March 2020; that the trial was approved by an internal governance group but undertaken without approval from the Police Executive; and that there was no consultation with the Privacy Commissioner or the Government Chief Data Steward. The software 'was deemed not operationally viable'. Police subsequently established a central governance body for emerging technologies and released a policy in September 2020 governing how emergent technologies may be tested or trialled. The Authority's broader assessment was that Police use of surveillance technologies was generally conservative, well-considered and broadly compliant with privacy and data security principles.

Status is discontinued rather than paused: the Authority records that the software was found not operationally viable and that the response was a new governance regime, not a suspension pending resumption. Nothing read in this run suggests any later Clearview AI use by New Zealand Police.

This record is included because the withdrawal is the substance: it is the event that produced New Zealand Police's emergent technologies governance framework, the Expert Panel and the later facial recognition policy, all of which the two other New Zealand records in this changeset depend on.

Fields left out and why. 'legalBasis' is omitted - the point of the finding is that the trial proceeded without the approvals it should have had. The number of images searched is not stated in the Authority's published outcome and is not asserted anywhere in this record.