Torontonians Concerned About Privacy with Police Facial Recognition

Torontonians Concerned About Privacy with Police Facial Recognition

But half think it’ll be positive for their ability to solve crimes

Toronto, June 11^th, 2019 - In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 1157 Toronto voters, 4 in 10 (41%) say the oppose the use of facial recognition technology by police services. A third (36%) say they support the use of facial recognition technology, while a quarter (24%) say they are not sure.

4 in 10 are concerned the technology will not be used appropriately

4 in 10 (41%) say they do not trust that facial recognition technology will be used appropriately by police services, while a third (35%) say yes, it will be used appropriately. A quarter (24%) are not sure.

Respondents most likely to say they don’t trust the technology will be used appropriately include those aged 34 and younger (59%), the least wealthy (47%), and living in the former City of Toronto (48%) or York (n=67 54%).

Half say facial recognition technology will impact their privacy

(BTM2: 51%) say they are concerned that the use of facial recognition technology will impact their privacy, with a quarter (24%) saying they are very concerned.

Just over 4 in 10 (TOP2: 44%) say they are not concerned that the use of facial recognition technology will impact their privacy, with quarter (25%) saying they are not concerned at all.

Respondents most likely to say they are concerned (BTM2: 51%) include those aged 34 and younger (64%), males (54%) and earning $20-40,000 (56%), $40-60,000 (55%), $60-80,000 (57%).

1 in 20 (6%) say they aren’t sure whether it will impact their privacy.

Toronto split on whether facial recognition is good value for money

4 in 10 (TOP2: 38%) say they think facial recognition technology will provide good value for money, but only 1 in 10 (13%) say that they think it will provide a very good value.

 4 in 10 (BTM2: 38%) say that facial recognition technology won’t provide a good value for money, with a quarter (26%) saying it won’t provide a good value at all.

A quarter (24%) say they aren’t sure if facial recognition technology will provide good value for money or not.

Half think it will help solve crimes

Half (TOP2: 47%) say they think it will have a positive effect on the police’s ability to solve crimes, with about one-fifth (19%) saying it will have a very positive effect.

A quarter (BTM2: 25%) say it will have a negative effect, with 1 in 10 (13%) saying it will have a very negative effect.

Almost a third (28%) say the effect will be neither positive nor negative.

 

“There are obviously some great concerns with the idea of a police service using facial recognition technology,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “Torontonians are concerned about their privacy, about how the data will be used, and generally just lean toward opposition. Almost half say that facial recognition will have a positive effect on crime solving, though, so even if residents have concerns, they do recognize the use of this technology could provide a benefit, despite those concerns."

Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.