The City of Detroit has agreed to revise how police use facial recognition technology following the wrongful arrest of a Black man nearly six years ago. In a settlement agreement with Robert Williams, who was arrested in 2018 based on an expired driver’s license photo identified through facial recognition, Detroit police will review all cases between 2017 and 2023 involving the technology to ensure arrests were made with evidence independent of facial recognition. Williams, who was not the man in the surveillance footage used as evidence, filed a civil rights lawsuit with the ACLU and University of Michigan’s Law School’s Civil Rights Litigation Initiative.
This case is just one example of facial recognition technology disproportionately affecting Black people. In the past, members of Congress and individuals in New Jersey and Michigan have been wrongly identified and even arrested due to misuses of facial recognition. The lawsuit filed by Williams alleges that there was no policy for law enforcement use of facial recognition in Detroit at the time of his arrest and that there was a lack of training for officers on the dangers of misusing the technology.
This settlement in Detroit represents a step towards accountability and transparency in the use of facial recognition technology within law enforcement. By recognizing the disproportionate impact on Black individuals and committing to reviewing and revising their procedures, Detroit hopes to prevent future wrongful arrests and uphold the civil rights of all citizens.
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