Amazon spent years actively marketing facial recognition technology to police departments across the United States, providing technical support and consulting services to help agencies deploy real-time surveillance systems in their cities.
The company’s Rekognition software analyzes faces in images and video, searching them against databases with tens of millions of records. Amazon sold the tool to agencies including Orlando Police Department and Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. The company didn’t just sell the software. It helped governments implement it, offered expertise on deployment strategies, and solicited feedback to improve the product’s law enforcement capabilities.
Ring, Amazon’s video doorbell subsidiary, pursued a parallel strategy. The company partnered with nearly 2,000 local law enforcement agencies to create a portal where officers could request footage from homeowners’ cameras. The partnerships positioned Ring devices as nodes in a distributed surveillance network spanning residential neighborhoods.
Civil liberties organizations raised alarms about both technologies. The ACLU tested Rekognition in 2018 by comparing photos of all 535 members of Congress against a database of 25,000 public arrest photos. The software incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress to mugshots, with false matches disproportionately identifying people of color.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation documented how Ring’s police partnerships enabled over-policing in communities with high rates of police violence. The group argued the surveillance infrastructure chilled First Amendment activities and created risks for marginalized populations already subject to disproportionate law enforcement attention.
Amazon positioned its public safety tools as part of a broader cloud computing push into government contracts. The Department of Justice disclosed in 2024 that the FBI was in the initiation phase of using Rekognition for image and video analysis, though details about the project’s scope remained limited.
Pressure from shareholders, employees, and advocacy groups led Amazon to announce a one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition in June 2020. The company framed the pause as time for Congress to establish regulations. Three years later, no comprehensive federal framework governing law enforcement use of facial recognition has passed.
The technology remains available to other government agencies. Amazon’s developer documentation still lists public safety use cases including finding missing children, combating human trafficking, and preventing crimes. Ring continues selling cameras and operating its law enforcement portal, though the company has adjusted some data-sharing policies following criticism.
Amazon declined to comment on whether the Rekognition moratorium for police would become permanent or when sales might resume.