The city of Detroit has reached a settlement with Robert Williams, a man who was wrongfully accused of shoplifting due to a misidentified facial recognition result. Under the terms of the agreement, Detroit police will no longer make arrests solely based on facial recognition results or photo lineups generated from such searches. This settlement comes after Williams’ driver’s license photo was mistakenly matched with a man seen on security video at a Shinola watch store in 2018.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative at University of Michigan law school announced the settlement, which aims to address concerns about racial bias and flawed technology in facial recognition systems. The ACLU argues that facial recognition technology is not an accurate or reliable means of identifying individuals, particularly when used by law enforcement.
Although Williams expressed hope for a world without facial recognition technology, the settlement seeks to ensure that police use additional evidence and conduct traditional police work before making an arrest based on such results. Detroit police will also review cases from 2017 to 2023 where facial recognition was used and notify the prosecutor if an arrest was made without independent evidence.
The settlement follows a similar case last August when Chief James White announced new policies regarding the use of facial recognition technology after a pregnant woman was wrongly charged with carjacking. The policies stated that there must be corroborating evidence beyond facial recognition results to establish a suspect’s involvement in a crime. The ACLU emphasizes the importance of preventing pressure on individuals to plead guilty when faced with charges based solely on facial recognition scans and lineup results.
In conclusion, this settlement marks an important step towards addressing concerns about racial bias and flawed technology in facial recognition systems used by law enforcement agencies. It highlights the need for additional evidence and traditional police work before making any arrest based solely on such results.
