- An NYPD counterterrorism memo instructed officers to inspect all eyewear permitted into inmate cells, citing security and counterintelligence risks.
- Maine’s fusion center warned that facial recognition in smart glasses could be used to dox officers.
- ICE has barred its own staff from wearing the glasses in federal workspaces over concerns of unintentionally capturing sensitive information.
US law enforcement agencies have circulated warnings that Meta’s camera-equipped Ray-Ban glasses are being used to secretly record inside jails and police facilities, according to a dozen previously unreported memos obtained under freedom of information requests and reported by the Guardian. The New York Police Department’s counterterrorism bureau, which works with the FBI, circulated the first of these memos in January, describing the glasses as a Meta security and counterintelligence threat.
The memo instructed officers to inspect all eyewear allowed into inmate cells, warning that covert recording could expose cell layouts, camera placements, and officer patrol routines. It cited two videos, including one posted to TikTok in July 2025 that showed the inside of a South Carolina detention center then under federal investigation, capturing cells, washing facilities, and detainees apparently unaware they were being filmed.
Meanwhile, similar memos have come from the Department of Homeland Security’s joint counterterrorism assessment team and from fusion centers in New York, Maine, Virginia, Tennessee, and San Diego. Maine’s memo, circulated in June, noted that some glasses can leverage AI software including facial recognition, which it said could lead to the doxing of officers.
Consequently, federal agencies have started policing their own use of the technology. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told staff in August that smart glasses count as body-worn cameras and cannot be worn in the federal workspace, because they could unintentionally capture, record, or transmit sensitive information. Meta told the newspaper that the glasses are designed to be noticed, pointing to the light that blinks while they record, though the South Carolina video suggests the indicator does not always deter covert filming.
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