Michigan man sues after facial recognition software leads to imprisonment
Facial recognition systems misidentify Asian and Black people up to 100 times more than white men. Yet, it remains in use in major cities.
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A man has sued Detroit police after a false facial recognition match led to him being wrongfully identified and subsequently arrested as a shoplifting suspect.
Robert Williams, a 43-year-old father who resides in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills, was arrested in early January on charges that he stole watches from Shinola, a trendy accessories store in the city. Detroit Police used facial recognition software on the store’s surveillance camera footage and wrongfully identified him as the thief.
Man Sues Detroit Police After Facial Recognition Error
Detroit police s reliance on facial recognition technology ended in the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of a man from Farmington Hills, Mich., and now he s suing the department in relation to the mistake. by Miriam Marini, Detroit Free Press / April 14, 2021
Detroit police s reliance on facial recognition technology ended in the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of a
Farmington Hills man, and now he s suing.
Robert Williams
, 43, was falsely identified as a suspect in a theft investigation in which a man shoplifted from a Shinola store in
October 2018. Williams was arrested in front of his family on
Credit Courtesy of Michigan American Civil Liberties Union
A Black Farmington Hills resident has sued the City of Detroit, its police chief, and a city detective for wrongful arrest and wrongful imprisonment.
Robert Williams was arrested in his own driveway in front of his wife and daughters. He was held in an overcrowded cell for 30 hours.
The federal lawsuit says Williams arrest for shoplifting was based on a flawed match made by a facial recognition algorithm with no other corroborating evidence.
The incorrect match was between an outdated driver s license photo of Williams and a grainy, poorly lit store surveillance video that never provided a clear image of the alleged shoplifter s face.
Wrongfully arrested man sues US police over false facial-recognition match stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Detroit Attorneys representing a Farmington Hills man filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking undisclosed damages from the city, its police chief and a Detroit police detective for the grave harm caused by the misuse of, and reliance upon, facial recognition technology.
The 75-page suit was filed on behalf of Robert Williams in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by the University of Michigan Law School’s Civil Rights Litigation Initiative, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Michigan.
An ACLU press release Tuesday claimed: Mr. Williams’ experience was the first case of wrongful arrest due to facial recognition technology to come to light in the United States.