35-year-old man wrongfully arrested after facial recognition misidentification in michigan leading to settlement and policy changes

Summary

A man was wrongfully arrested on January 9, 2020, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, by Detroit Police Department officers for a crime he did not commit, based on an incorrect facial recognition identification. The facial recognition system used a database of 49 million photos, including Michigan driver’s license images, and incorrectly matched his expired license photo to a suspect in a boutique theft. The police used this flawed match as an investigative lead, leading to his arrest without sufficient independent evidence. The man was held overnight in a jail cell and later released when the charges were dropped. As a result of a lawsuit, the City of Detroit reached a settlement that restricts the Detroit Police Department from using facial recognition results alone to conduct photo lineups and requires officers to be trained on the technology’s limitations and racial inaccuracies.