Aug 08, 2023 12:30:00

A woman who was once accused of robbery by face recognition technology sued the city as unfair arrest

There are many examples that prove that facial recognition technology is not a panacea, especially when it comes to recognizing people of color. In the United States

, an innocent man has been detained for a week due to an error in the face recognition system , but this time he judges a woman who is eight months pregnant to be a robber. The lawsuit was dropped due to lack of evidence, and the woman is suing the city for unfair arrest.

Eight Months Pregnant and Arrested After False Facial Recognition Match - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/06/business/facial-recognition-false-arrest.html

Detroit woman sues city after being falsely arrested while pregnant due to facial recognition technology
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/detroit-woman-sues-city-falsely-arrested-8-months-pregnant-due-facial-rcna98447

Woman files lawsuit, claims 'faulty' DPD facial recognition hit prompted her false arrest
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2023/08/06/woman-files-lawsuit-claims-faulty-dpd-facial-recognition-hit-prompted-her-false- arrest/70523848007/

The robbery in question in the first place occurred on January 29, 2023. The victim was a 25-year-old man who was driving a Chevrolet Malibu, and said he picked up a woman he saw on the street early that day. After drinking together in the car, they had sex in the parking lot of the liquor store and moved to a BP gas station about 10 minutes away. When the woman was dropped off at a gas station, the man who came to pick her up took out a handgun, stole the victim's wallet and phone, and even took the car and fled.

On February 2, the man who was driving the stolen Chevrolet Malibu was arrested. Police also obtained CCTV footage from BP's gas station and began using facial recognition technology to identify the woman. As a result, Mr. Pocha Woodruff emerged. At this time, the face photo used by the police for face recognition was a photo taken when Mr. Woodruff was arrested in 2015 for an expired license. When the police showed the victim a set of six photos, including one of Mr. Woodruff, the victim said that the woman who was with him was Mr. Woodruff.

Below is a set of 6 photos used by the Detroit police. The upper center is a photo of Mr. Woodruff taken in 2015.

On February 16, Detroit police sent six police officers to Woodruff's house. Mr. Woodruff, who was visited by a police officer while preparing to send his two daughters to school, heard that he was accused of robbery and carjacking and said, ``Are you kidding me? I'm eight months pregnant and I can't do that,' police officers arrested Woodruff, even though she showed her growing belly. Detroit police said Woodruff was interrogated for 11 hours and his iPhone was seized as evidence.

On the day Wayne County prosecutors indicted Mr. Woodruff, Mr. Woodruff was released after paying bail of $100,000 (about 14 million yen), went to the hospital with his feet and was diagnosed with dehydration.

Wayne County prosecutors dismissed the case on March 6, citing 'insufficient evidence.' Woodruff sued the city of Detroit in federal court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleging wrongful arrest. Detective LaShawntia Oliver, who is in charge of the case, is also named as a defendant. It has been pointed out that Detective Oliver used a photo of 2015 when narrowing down Mr. Woodruff as a suspect, even though the photo of the driver's license as of 2023 should have been available.

In response to the complaint, Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy said the warrant was 'factually appropriate'.

The New York Times reports to the Detroit Police Commission, a private watchdog group, that Detroit police use facial recognition technology in an average of 125 cases a year, mostly on black men. . He also pointed out that Mr. Woodruff's case was the sixth case of false arrest using face recognition technology, and that all five cases so far were black.