Settlement and Compensation
The city of Detroit has agreed to pay $300,000 to Robert Williams, a man wrongly accused of shoplifting, as part of a lawsuit settlement. The settlement also includes significant changes in how the city’s police department utilizes facial recognition technology for crime-solving purposes. Williams’ driver’s license photo was mistakenly identified as a match to a suspect in a 2018 Shinola watch store theft.
Implementation of Safeguards
As part of the settlement, Detroit police will now be prohibited from making arrests based solely on facial recognition results. Additionally, arrests cannot be made based on photo lineups generated from facial recognition searches. These changes aim to prevent wrongful accusations and ensure a more accurate and fair use of the technology.
Statements from Involved Parties
Robert Williams expressed optimism about the future use of facial recognition technology, stating, “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,” although he noted a preference for the technology not to be used at all.
Advocacy and Legal Perspective
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative at the University of Michigan Law School announced the agreement. They have argued that facial recognition technology is flawed and racially biased, pointing out that Williams is Black. Phil Mayor, an ACLU attorney, emphasized that while facial recognition can provide leads, traditional police work should follow to substantiate any allegations. “They can get a facial recognition lead and then they can go out and do old-fashioned police work and see if there’s actually any reason to believe that the person who was identified … might have committed a crime,” Mayor said.
