July 6th 2024.
In January of 2020, Robert Williams found himself behind bars for 30 hours in a Detroit jail due to a false identification made by facial recognition technology. This wrongful arrest prompted Williams to take legal action and sue for damages. Recently, as part of a settlement agreement with the Detroit Police Department, Williams received a commitment from them to improve their use of facial recognition technology. This new protocol, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), should become the standard for law enforcement agencies across the nation.
Williams expressed his hope that this will lead to positive change, stating, "We hope that it moves the needle in the right direction." Williams was not the only victim of faulty facial recognition technology in Detroit. At least two other individuals were also wrongfully arrested, including a pregnant woman who was charged with carjacking. This has raised concerns about the use of this technology by law enforcement agencies across the country.
Facial recognition technology is used by police to identify criminals caught on camera. In Michigan, the software compares an unknown face to a database of mug shots and driver's license photos. However, other jurisdictions, such as San Francisco, Austin, and Portland, have banned its use temporarily due to concerns about privacy and racial bias. In Detroit, the police use a software that searches through photos scraped from social media sites and the internet.
One significant change in the new rules adopted by Detroit is that the images of individuals identified through facial recognition technology cannot be shown to eyewitnesses in a photo lineup unless there is other evidence linking them to the crime. Phil Mayor, a lawyer for the ACLU of Michigan, stated, "The pipeline of 'Get a picture; slap it in a lineup' will end." He believes this settlement will turn the Detroit Police Department from the "best-documented misuser" of facial recognition technology into a national leader with proper safeguards in place.
The police argue that facial recognition technology is a valuable tool for solving crimes. However, some cities and states have banned its use due to concerns about privacy and racial bias. The head of informatics for Detroit's crime intelligence unit, Stephen Lamoreaux, stated that the police department is dedicated to using technology for public safety. He believes that Detroit now has the strongest policy in the nation.
Williams' arrest was a result of a crime that occurred in 2018. Someone stole five watches from a boutique in downtown Detroit, and the surveillance footage was provided to the police by a loss prevention firm. A search using facial recognition technology produced 243 photos, ranked by the system's confidence level that it was the same person in the surveillance video. Williams' old driver's license photo was ninth on the list, but the person running the search deemed him the best match and sent a report to a detective.
The detective showed Williams' photo in a "six-pack photo lineup" to the security contractor who provided the surveillance video. She agreed that Williams was the closest match to the suspect, leading to his arrest. Williams, who was at work during the time of the crime, spent a night in jail, had his fingerprints and DNA collected, and was charged with retail fraud. He was forced to hire a lawyer, and the case was eventually dropped by prosecutors.
In 2021, Williams filed a lawsuit against Detroit, hoping to put an end to the use of facial recognition technology to prevent others from suffering the same fate. Williams was dismayed to learn that the police had charged Porcha Woodruff with carjacking and robbery based on a faulty facial recognition match. Woodruff was arrested while getting her children ready for school and is also suing the city. The lawsuit is ongoing.
In January 2020, a man named Robert Williams was mistakenly arrested and spent 30 hours in a Detroit jail. The reason? Facial recognition technology had falsely identified him as a criminal. After Williams sued, the Detroit Police Department has made a commitment to improve their use of this technology. This is all part of a legal settlement over Williams' wrongful arrest, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) believes that these new rules should become the new national standard.
Williams, who was the first known victim of a wrongful arrest due to faulty facial recognition technology, hopes that this settlement will bring about positive change. He stated, "We hope that it moves the needle in the right direction." Unfortunately, Williams was not the only one to suffer this injustice. The Detroit police have arrested at least two other individuals based on incorrect facial recognition searches, including a pregnant woman who was charged with carjacking. This highlights the serious flaws and dangers of using this technology.
Law enforcement agencies across the country rely on facial recognition technology to identify criminals caught on camera. In Michigan, the software compares an unknown face to a database of mug shots and driver's license photos. In other places, like Clearview AI, the police use tools that search through photos taken from social media and the internet. However, this technology has been met with opposition and concerns about privacy and racial bias. Some cities and states, such as San Francisco, Austin, and Portland, have even banned its use temporarily.
The new rules adopted in Detroit aim to address some of these concerns. For example, one of the most important changes is that images of suspects identified through facial recognition technology can no longer be shown to eyewitnesses in a photo lineup unless there is additional evidence linking them to the crime. Phil Mayor, a lawyer for the ACLU of Michigan, explained, "The pipeline of, 'Get a picture; slap it in a lineup' will end. This settlement moves the Detroit Police Department from being the best-documented misuser of facial recognition technology into a national leader in having guardrails in its use."
The police have defended their use of facial recognition technology, stating that it is a powerful tool for solving crimes. However, the city of Detroit has now established the strongest policy in the nation regarding its use. Stephen Lamoreaux, head of informatics with Detroit's crime intelligence unit, stated that the police department is dedicated to using technology in a meaningful way to ensure public safety.
So, how did it all go wrong for Robert Williams? Well, it started with a crime that occurred in 2018. A man stole five watches from a boutique in downtown Detroit, and the entire incident was captured on a surveillance camera. The footage was then provided to the Detroit Police Department by a loss prevention firm. Using facial recognition technology, the police conducted a search of the man's face against driver's license pictures and mug shots. This search produced 243 photos, ranked in order of the system's confidence that it was the same person on the surveillance video. Surprisingly, an old driver's license photo of Williams was deemed the best match, and the police detective assigned to the case included Williams' picture in a "six-pack photo lineup."
The security contractor who provided the store's surveillance video was then shown the photo lineup, and she agreed that Williams was the closest match to the man in the boutique. This ultimately led to the warrant for Williams' arrest. Despite being at his desk at an automotive supply company when the crime occurred, Williams was arrested and spent the night in jail. His fingerprints and DNA were collected, and he was charged with retail fraud. He had to hire a lawyer to defend himself, but luckily, the case was eventually dropped.
Williams hopes that his lawsuit against the city will bring about a ban on the use of facial recognition technology, so others will not have to suffer as he did. He was particularly upset to hear about Porcha Woodruff, another innocent victim of a bad facial recognition match who was charged with carjacking and robbery. The police arrested Woodruff as she was getting her children ready for school, and she has also filed a lawsuit against the city. However, her case is still ongoing.
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