Believed to be the first case of a known wrongful arrest in a case involving facial recognition matching, civil liberties activists alleged in a complaint to Detroit Police due to the incorrect matching of the profile of a shoplifter to an innocent man.
Robert Williams was arrested and spent a day in custody after facial recognition software used by Detroit Police incorrectly matched his driving license photo to that of an unidentified alleged shoplifter.
In a video published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU), the ACLU alleges that Williams was held for 18 hours without being asked any questions or even provided a reason for the arrest after being incorrectly matched to a CCTV image of the alleged shoplifter, despite Michigan State Police documents stating that facial recognition technology should be used only as “An investigative lead only and is not probable cause to arrest.”
After realising that Williams did not match the images of the alleged shoplifter during interviews with Detroit Police, Williams was set free.
The ACLU has lodged a complaint against Detroit police, calling on US lawmakers to halt the use of facial recognition technology for law enforcement use.