Detroit Man Secures $300,000 Payout For False Facial Recognition Arrest
from the improbable-cause dept
The Detroit PD — or at least a few of its investigators — managed to be the absolute worst at using facial recognition tech. Despite being told by their tech provider that a “match” was never to be considered probable cause for an arrest on its own, multiple PD investigators decided a match — no matter how iffy — was all they needed to start locking people up.
One of those people was Robert Williams, who was arrested in the driveway of his home because officers claimed grainy, dark footage from a jewelry store robbery showed he was the most likely suspect. The final part of this thoroughly incomplete “investigation” was performed by the PD’s facial recognition tech, which used a non-ideal image to serve up a match one detective (who has been sued twice so far) treated as actual probable cause.
Here’s the image they were working with:
Not great! Not even really acceptable! The face — the thing needed most for facial recognition — was in shadows, not clearly defined, and of low enough quality you would think the AI would have served up nothing more than a shrug.
Nonetheless, detectives Daniel Bussa and Steve Posey decided this was enough to go after Williams, who was arrested and, following his exoneration, sued the detectives for violating his rights.
That lawsuit has now netted Williams a $300,000 payout from Detroit residents who had nothing to do with this bogus arrest. But that’s how city funding works and that’s why when government agencies get things wrong, they rarely feel compelled to prevent the same thing from happening again. Here are a few more details on this part of the settlement, courtesy of Emma Camp at Reason:
Williams filed a lawsuit against Detroit police in 2020. Last month, the case was settled, with Williams receiving a $300,000 payout, according to the Associated Press. As part of the settlement, the Detroit Police Department also agreed to conduct an audit of all cases “in which facial recognition technology was utilized to generate an investigative lead that was followed by an arrest or the issuance of an arrest warrant.”
“We are extremely excited that going forward there will be more safeguards on the use of this technology with our hope being to live in a better world because of it,” Williams told journalists last month. “Even though what we would like for them to do is not use it at all.”
While I am pleased to see someone secure compensation for being wronged by the government (even if it will be paid by citizens, rather than the government employees involved), the bigger win is the other part of the settlement, which provides far more of a deterrent to future abuse of this tech than spending other people’s money to escape a lawsuit.
The other part of the settlement alters how the Detroit PD handles facial recognition tech matches, as well as how it conducts its virtual “lineups” when talking to eyewitnesses. That part of the settlement will force the PD to play by the rules set by the tech provider, which means investigators won’t be able to consider search matches probable cause on their own. In addition, any matches served up by the AI will no longer take prominence in photo arrays presented to eyewitnesses. Instead of a “six pack” of photos, investigators will have to present photos one at a time, including a separate photo of the suspect that hasn’t been derived from the facial recognition tech. Investigators will also have to disclose to eyewitnesses (and courts) that the match was derived from an automated search, rather than pretend these photos were just part of a random selection.
Finally, let’s not forget that a system capable of serving up false positives is just as capable of pitching false negatives to investigators. Relying solely on AI search results — as Detroit PD detectives did in multiple cases — compounds the problem. Not only are innocent people being arrested but guilty parties are going undetected. Facial recognition can work if it’s a small part of much larger and better vetted investigation process. What it should never be expected to do is act as a stand-alone probable cause for arrests.
Filed Under: daniel bussa, detroit, detroit pd, facial recognition, false arrest, false positive, michael oliver, robert williams, steve posey
Comments on “Detroit Man Secures $300,000 Payout For False Facial Recognition Arrest”
The fucking department should be decimated a la ancient Rome. You’d see a lot of real careful stepping around facial recognition after that.
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Decimation implies putting one in ten to the sword whereas eradication would eliminate any hint of offenders avoiding punishment.
Then import any European officers willing to take on the challenges of Detroit. At least they come fully trained, competent, and educated.
thre are
So many samples of BAD camera setups that Anything shown is Laughable.
Its a dark place at a dark time on a dark person.. The dam should have IR turned on. But its not.
“Despite being told by their tech provider that a “match” was never to be considered probable cause for an arrest on its own,”
Why is the law enforcement management not making this a requirement? Seems a bit lackadaisical to rely upon the product manufacturer to make police department policy.
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Why isn’t it just the law, and enforced?
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Seems a bit lackadaisical to rely upon the product manufacturer to make police department policy.
Policy?
These fuckheads didn’t even bother to RTFM in the first place. Putting it into actual policy would be at best, redundant.
Re: Re:
You are assuming that any can read better than the great leader of China.
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Per the linked TD article (2nd link) when the arrest happened, the officers were already violating PD policy about using facial recognition…
the rest of the story...
Then on the way home he got pulled over while driving through a high crime area, and his cash was confiscated.
JK
Tim, why are you so against people getting arrested for nothing provable and the innocent getting away scott free?
The beatings will continue till morale improves.
Police in the US make approximately 20 thousand arrests per day and whether justly or unjustly they end up causing approximately 3 deaths per day. Because of that you guys want to kill one in ten of them which would be about 85000 police officers. Seems a bit extreme to me but you think that would improve law enforcement.
There is another profession that kills approximately 700 people per day through their mistakes. I don’t mean they tried their best and failed, I mean they made a mistake that took the life of someone that would be alive but now is dead. Given the size of both groups (14.7m vs 8.5m), if they were as competent as police officers, they would only kill about 5.5 people per day. So, the question is —how many doctors and nurses should we kill to improve the medical profession?
Come on Tim. Don’t you ever get tired of ragging on cops? I know it is your retirement plan, but wouldn’t it expand your readership if you also took on a far more incompetent group and bitched about them for a while.
typo
In my previous post I left off a 0. Should have been 850,000 police officers you wished to kill.
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Two different groups with two very missions and clients.
One is dealing with supposedly saving the lives of ill or critically hurt people while working in a for profit environment.
The other rarely deals with ill people and are markedly incompetent at helping or protecting same due to always being in fear for their lives or getting enraged when not obeyed.
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Both respond to life and death situations but only one is required (if necessary) to put themselves in danger responding to a life and death situation. Despite often spilt second decisions of police officers whose own life and safety may be threatened, you are far more likely to be killed or injured by a doctor or nurse than by a police officer. Even not listening to a doctor can be more dangerous than not listening to a cop.
Given all that, how many doctors and nurses do we need to kill or imprison to improve the profession?
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No one’s stopping you from begging politicians to put doctors and nurses in prison, or death row.
You don’t, because you don’t have the balls to put your money where your mouth is.
I don’t because I’m not a Bolshevik. No one in their right mind would become a doctor or nurse for fear one error would get them executed or land them in prison yet that is this forums approach to improving law enforcement. I’m merely suggesting if you want to try that approach, you should try it on the far more deadly profession of medicine first.
Re:
Contrary to what you think, cops still are becoming cops even though there’s the threat of disciplinary punishment for mistakes. In the same way that doctors and nurses still become doctors and nurses despite the threat of malpractice (your consistent belief that nobody ever gets punished for this notwithstanding).
No one here besides you is bitching about doctors and nurses. You should be the one, the brave patriot, to make such a recommendation. I’m sure you can rally the police to champion the voice of one of their fiercest advocates.
The policies expressed in this forum suggest “decimating police” for their incompetency. These aren’t my policies; you need only read the previous posts on this page to find them. I understand they are hyperbolic in nature but I’m the only one questioning them and providing an answer as to what would happen if those policies were implemented. Fact is doctors, nurses and police are told that “if you follow your training, you will be protected” but that protection is impacted by political will. When that political will turns from protecting to targeting then people will cease to do the job–plain and simple.
Comparing police officers to doctors and nurses should provide pause and perspective. Especially when doctors and nurses have a poorer record.