Traffic Jam

Overview

Development stage

DeployedSource: c) Deployed – The use case is being actively authorized or utilized to support the functions or mission of an agency.

High-impact designation

High-impactSource: a) High-impact

Impact justification

Not reported

Start date

2025-09-29 (day precision)Source: 2025-09-29T00:00:00

Withheld from public reporting

Not reported

Mission

Topic area

Law Enforcement

Operational functions

No function tag matched Derived by keyword rules; see methodology

Problem the AI is intended to solve

Access to a robust data source of potential runaways, missing children, and sex trafficking victims alongside the associated analytics tools to support CBP in our mission to protect the most vulnerable populations.

Expected benefits

Traffic Jam leverages AI for facial recognition purposes and to draw together similar data points from a large pool of data in support of human trafficking and exploitation investigations. Manually combing through available data takes an extensive amount of time and resources, with often less than desirable outcomes. The AI solution in Traffic Jam is able to quickly identify the most relevant information and possible matching for immediate review, allowing officers and analysts to focus limited time in a high-tempo operational environment in the most effective manner possible.

System outputs

The AI system is only used for the purposes of returning possible matches to query criteria within the Traffic Jam system. The data submitted by the end user is not used to train or refine the AI model, submitted images are cached for 2 hours to facilitate user support but nothing is retained permanently in the Traffic Jam database. Additionally, the information is reported back to CBP officers and agents to review for further research and determination of next steps.

Technology

AI classification

Computer visionSource: Computer Vision: AI that processes and interprets visual data (e.g., images and videos).

System name(s)

Traffic Jam

Custom-developed code

No

Public source code

Not reported

Sourcing

How it was built

Purchased from vendorSource: a) Purchased from a vendor

Vendor (as reported)

Marinus Analytics

Vendors (standardized)

None on the standard list

A vendor is the supplier named by the agency. It does not identify the underlying model or AI technology.

Data and privacy

Involves PII

Yes

Privacy Impact Assessment

Not reported

Authorization to Operate

Yes

Demographic features

Not reported

Training and evaluation data

Proprietary, public, and machine labeled datasets including structured and unstructured data such as online ads, research datasets, images, and geospatial information. All data used for model training and testing is either publicly available, lawfully obtained, or provided by partner agencies under appropriate agreements, and is processed in compliance with privacy and security standards.

Federal Data Catalog

Not reported

Governance

8 of 8 minimum-practice questions answered. A blank answer means the agency reported nothing; it does not mean the practice is absent.

Potential impacts and how they were identified

Using Traffic Jam or similar commercial facial recognition vendors introduces additional privacy and civil liberties risks, particularly around data control, transparency, and accountability. Mitigation steps are taken as outlined in the Privacy Impact Assessment to minimize or eliminate the impacts of using artificial intelligence.