'The false positive rate of face recognition software reaches 96%,' the police chief reveals

by EFF Photos

A black suspect arrested by Detroit City Police for evidence of facial recognition software was released 'insufficient evidence'. In one case, Detroit City Police said, 'Face recognition software used to identify criminals has a false positive rate of 96%.' Face recognition software is used almost exclusively by blacks in the city and is controversial as an example of the mistreatment of blacks.

VICE-Detroit Police Chief: Facial Recognition Software Misidentifies 96% of the Time
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/dyzykz/detroit-police-chief-facial-recognition-software-misidentifies-96-of-the-time

Detroit police chief cops to 96-percent facial recognition error rate | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/06/detroit-police-chief-admits-facial-recognition-is-wrong-96-of-the-time/

In October 2018, five wristwatches worth $3,800 (about 410,000 yen) were stolen from a luxury retailer in Detroit. Detroit City Police carried out a face recognition search using the image displayed on the security camera. In January 2020, Robert Julian Borchak Williams was arrested in Michigan for allegedly matching his driver's license photo.

Mr Williams, who was arrested, argued during the police interrogation, 'The man in the image of the security camera is not myself, no matter how I look at it.' Mr. Williams was released in June 2020 as 'there is no evidence other than verification by face recognition software' as a result of the American Free Human Rights Association 's formal objection on behalf of Mr. Williams.

A man who was innocent but mistakenly arrested due to face recognition technology-GIGAZINE

by Steve Jurvetson

The Detroit City Police Department uses DataWorks Plus facial recognition software, which provides devices and systems for law enforcement agencies. In a public meeting held on June 29, 2020, Detroit City Police Chief James Craig said, 'With this software alone, there is a 95-97% chance of resolving the incident. There is a 96% chance of misleading arrests,' he said, admitting that the software is very likely to misunderstand another person.

According to documents released by the Detroit City Police (PDF file) , the face recognition software in question has been used 70 times by June 22, 2020. Of these 70, 68 were for blacks and the other two were for unknown race. Of the 70 images used for face recognition, 31 were social media photos and 18 were security camera photos.

It has been pointed out that this type of face recognition technology has a particularly high false positive rate for blacks, and the city of Detroit made a decision at the end of 2019 that ``images obtained from movies will not be used for face recognition search''. It was However, the investigation into Williams was said to have taken place before this decision.

'There is no statistical record of accuracy in real life,' said Todd Pastorini, general manager of DataWorks Plus. I explained that this kind of software is only for 'narrowing down' criminal candidates, not for 'identifying'.

Detroit City has submitted a bill to the city council to stop using facial recognition technology for investigations. Boston, Massachusetts bans face recognition technology prior to Detroit.

American metropolitan cities ban face recognition systems one after another-GIGAZINE

by Mike MacKenzie