As part of a legal settlement, the Detroit Police Department agreed to new guidelines limiting how it can use facial recognition technology.
The new policy prohibits police from arresting someone based solely on the results of a facial recognition test or on the results of a mugshot scan conducted immediately following a facial recognition test, and specifies that mugshot scans cannot be conducted based solely on facial recognition, but instead require additional evidence linking a suspect to a crime.
The policy, which could be enforced by the courts over the next four years, also mandates police training on the risks and dangers of facial recognition technology and audits of all cases since 2017 in which facial recognition was used to obtain arrest warrants.
Roger Williams, a black man who was identified and arrested using facial recognition technology, filed a lawsuit against the police and was represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and the University of Michigan Law School's Civil Rights Litigation Initiative.
In announcing the settlement, the ACLU described it as an achievement of “the strongest police department policies and practices in the nation limiting police use of this dangerous technology,” and noted that women and people of color are “disproportionately more likely to be misidentified by facial recognition technology.”
“As this painful chapter in our lives comes to a close, my wife and I will continue to raise awareness about the dangers of this technology,” Williams said in a statement.
He reportedly spent 30 hours in jail after being mistaken for a man seen on security camera stealing five watches from a downtown Detroit store: His driver's license photo came up in a facial recognition search of a database of mugshots and license photos, and the security company that provided the footage determined he was the best match, leading to his arrest.
Prosecutors later dropped the charges. Police also announced they would pay Williams $300,000 as part of the settlement.
The police department said in a statement that it has been “pleased with our collaboration with the ACLU and the University of Michigan over the past year and a half,” adding that it is confident the new policy “will serve as a national best practice and model for other agencies using this technology.”
Cities including San Francisco have banned the use of facial recognition by law enforcement, and Microsoft recently banned police from using AI technology for facial recognition.