Detroit police are scaling back their use of facial recognition technology to track criminal suspects as part of a legal settlement. TechCrunchThe development comes after a man was wrongly convicted in 2020 for using the technology.
of Updated Policy The law would prohibit police from arresting people based solely on the results of a facial recognition search or solely on the results of a mugshot sort. Additionally, authorities would not be able to present a mugshot sort based solely on facial recognition technology. There would have to be supporting evidence other than the technology to conduct a mugshot sort.
“My wife and young daughters watched helplessly as I was arrested for a crime I did not commit.”
The report said the policy, which could be enforced by the courts for the next four years, also requires police departments to train and educate their officers about the risks of facial recognition technology.
Robert Williams was mistakenly identified as the suspect in a theft at the Shinola store in October 2018. Detroit Free PressHe was then arrested in front of his family and held for 30 hours before eventually being released on bail.
The report states that Detroit detectives ran grainy photos generated from the poorly lit footage through police facial recognition software. Although the images were not clear, police relied on them to arrest Williams. In footage of the theft, the shoplifter never looks directly at the camera, making it difficult to identify the perpetrator using facial recognition technology alone.
As a result, Williams said the ineffective use of facial recognition software has “completely turned my life upside down.”
“My wife and young daughters watched helplessly as I was arrested for a crime I didn’t commit. By the time I came home from prison, I missed my youngest child’s first tooth and my oldest daughter couldn’t bear to look at pictures of me. Even now, years later, they still tear up when they think about it,” Williams said.
“The scariest thing is that what happened to me could happen to anyone.”
Despite the existence of this technology, several cities in the country have banned authorities from using it, and Microsoft has also banned authorities from using its facial recognition AI software.
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