{"id":114732,"date":"2020-07-07T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T16:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbach.net\/?p=114732"},"modified":"2022-08-06T13:17:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T17:17:56","slug":"facial-recognition-false-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/facial-recognition-false-arrest\/","title":{"rendered":"Facial Recognition False Arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

\"Facial<\/a>Back in January 2020, the Detroit Police Department arrested Robert Williams in his driveway in Farmington Hills according<\/a> to The New York Time<\/em>s<\/a>. He had his mug shot, fingerprints and DNA taken and was held overnight. Based on facial recognition software DPD decided<\/strong> that in October 2018 decided he had shoplifted 5 watches worth $3,800, from Shinola. Shinola<\/a> is an upscale boutique that sells watches, bicycles, and leather goods in the trendy Midtown neighborhood of Detroit.<\/p>\r\n

\"Detroit<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Mr. Williams knew that he had not committed the crime in question. What he could not have known, as he sat under arrest, is that his case may be the first known account of an American being wrongfully arrested based on a flawed match from a facial recognition algorithm<\/a><\/strong>, according to experts on technology and the law.\u00a0This is part of the systemic racial bias in law enforcement that millions are protesting. They are protesting not just the actions of individual officers, but bias in the systems used to monitor communities and identify people for prosecution<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n

Facial recognition systems have been used by police forces for more than two decades.\u00a0Recent studies<\/a> by MIT.<\/a> and NIST<\/a> (PDF), have found that while facial recognition technology works relatively well on white men<\/strong>, the results are less accurate for other demographics<\/strong>, in part because of a lack of diversity in the images used to develop the underlying databases.<\/p>\r\n

\"Michigan<\/a><\/p>\r\n

As part of this debate, IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft paused new sales of facial recognition systems to\u00a0 law enforcement<\/a>. The gestures were largely symbolic<\/strong>, given that the companies are not big players in the industry. The technology police departments use, according to the NYT<\/em>, is supplied by companies that aren\u2019t household names, such as Vigilant Solutions<\/a>, Cognitec<\/a>, NEC, Rank One Computing, and Clearview AI<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

Clare Garvie<\/a>, a lawyer at Georgetown University\u2019s<\/a> Center on Privacy and Technology<\/a>, has written about problems with the government\u2019s use of facial recognition told the NYT<\/em> she suspects Mr. Williams’ case is not the first case<\/strong> to misidentify someone to arrest them for a crime they didn\u2019t commit. “This is just the first time we know about it<\/strong>.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\"facial<\/a>Mr. Williams\u2019 case combines flawed technology with poor police work<\/strong>, illustrating how facial recognition can go awry according to the New York Times<\/em>. The original still unsolved Shinola shoplifting case occurred in October 2018. Katherine Johnston, a loss prevention contractor for Shinola reviewed the store\u2019s surveillance video and sent a copy to the Detroit police, according to the DPD report. Where it sat until the Michigan State Police got involved – in a shoplifting case.<\/p>\r\n

In March 2019, Jennifer Coulson, a digital image examiner for the Michigan State Police, uploaded a \u201cprobe image\u201d \u2014 a still from the Shinola video, showing a man in a red Cardinals cap \u2014 to the state\u2019s facial recognition database. The DataWorks Plus system<\/strong> mapped the man\u2019s face and searched for similar ones in a collection of 49 million photos<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n

\"Facail<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Since 2005 Michigan\u2019s facial recognition technology<\/a> has been supplied by a South Carolina company called DataWorks Plus<\/a> under a contract worth $5.5 million. The NYT<\/em> says DataWorks Plus does not formally measure the systems\u2019 accuracy or bias<\/strong>. Todd Pastorini, a DataWorks Plus general manager told the NYT, <\/em>\u201cWe\u2019ve become a pseudo-expert in the technology<\/strong>.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\r\n

In Michigan, the DataWorks facial recognition softwar<\/strong>e<\/strong> used by the state police incorporates components developed by the Japanese tech giant NEC<\/a> <\/strong>and by Rank One Computing<\/a><\/strong>, based in Colorado, according to Mr. Pastorini and a state police spokeswoman. In 2019, algorithms from both companies were\u00a0included in a federal study <\/strong>of over 100 facial recognition systems that found they were biased, falsely identifying African-American and Asian faces 10 times to\u00a0<\/strong>100 times more than Caucasian faces.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\"I<\/a><\/p>\r\n

After MSP\u2019s Coulson, ran her search of the probe image,\u00a0the system would have provided a row of results generated by NEC and a row from Rank One, along with confidence scores. Mr. Williams\u2019s driver\u2019s license photo was among the matches. Ms. Coulson sent it to the Detroit police as an \u201cInvestigative Lead Report.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\"Investigative<\/a><\/p>\r\n

This is what technology providers and law enforcement always emphasize when defending facial recognition, says the article:\u00a0 It is only supposed to be a clue in the case, not a smoking gun. DPD Chief James Craig describes himself as a “strong believer<\/a>”\u00a0 in facial recognition software.<\/p>\r\n

\"CollectBefore arresting Mr. Williams, investigators could have sought other evidence t<\/strong>hat he committed the theft, such as eyewitness testimony, location data from his phone, or proof that he owned the clothing that the suspect was wearing<\/strong>. In this case, however, according to the Detroit police report, investigators simply included Mr. Williams\u2019s picture in a \u201c6-pack photo lineup\u201d they created and showed it to Shinola\u2019s loss-prevention contractor, and she identified him. Shinola\u2019s contractor. Johnston declined to comment.<\/p>\r\n

Rank One\u2019s chief executive, Brendan Klare, found fault with Ms. Johnston\u2019s role in the process. \u201cI am<\/em>\u00a0not sure if this q<\/em>ualifies them as an eyewitness, or gives their experience any more weight than other persons who may have viewed that same video after the fact.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 John Wise, a spokesman for NEC, told the author: A match using facial recognition alone is not a means for positive identification.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\r\n

In Mr. Williams\u2019s recollection, after he held the surveillance video still next to his face, the two detectives leaned back in their chairs and looked at one another. One detective, seeming chagrined, said to his partner: \u201cI guess the computer got it wrong<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d They turned over a third piece of paper, which was another photo of the man from the Shinola store next to Mr. Williams\u2019s driver\u2019s license. Mr. Williams again pointed out that they were not the same person.<\/p>\r\n

Mr. Williams asked if he was free to go. \u201cUnfortunately not<\/em>,\u201d one detective said. Mr. Williams was kept in custody for 30 hours<\/strong>, and released on a $1,000 personal bond. The Williams family contacted defense attorneys<\/strong>, most of whom, they said, assumed Mr. Williams was guilty of the crime<\/strong> and quoted prices of around $7,000 to represent him. They, also tweeted at the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan<\/a>, which took an immediate interest. said Phil Mayor, an attorney with the organization told the NYT:<\/em><\/p>\r\n

\"American<\/a><\/p>\r\n

We\u2019ve been active in trying to sound the alarm bells around facial recognition, both as a threat to privacy when it works and a racist threat to everyone when it doesn\u2019t,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe know these stories are out there, but they\u2019re hard to hear about because people don\u2019t usually realize they\u2019ve been the victim of a bad facial recognition search.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Two weeks later, Mr. Williams appeared in a Wayne County court for an arraignment. When the case was called, the prosecutor moved to dismiss, but \u201cwithout prejudice,\u201d<\/strong> meaning Mr. Williams could later be charged again<\/strong>. Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor, said a second witness<\/strong> had been at the store in 2018 when the shoplifting occurred but had not been asked to look at a photo lineup<\/strong>. If the individual makes an identification in the future, she said, the office will decide whether to issue charges.<\/p>\r\n

\"dismiss,<\/a>A DPD spokeswoman, Nicole Kirkwood, said that for now, the department \u201caccepted the prosecutor\u2019s decision to dismiss the case<\/em>.\u201d In a second statement to the NYT<\/em> DPD doubled down<\/strong> saying it, \u201cdoes not make arrests based solely on facial recognition. The investigator reviewed the video, interviewed witnesses, conducted a photo lineup.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The ACLU of Michigan filed a complaint with the city<\/a> (PDF),\u00a0 asking for an absolute dismissal of the case<\/strong>, an apology, and the removal of Mr. Williams\u2019s information from Detroit\u2019s criminal databases.<\/p>\r\n

Mr. Williams\u2019s lawyer, Victoria Burton-Harris, said that her client is \u201clucky,\u201d despite what he went through. Ms. Burton-Harris said to the NYT<\/em>,\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

He is alive … He is a very large man. My experience has been, as a defense attorney, when officers interact with very large men, very large black men, they immediately act out of fear. They don\u2019t know how to de-escalate a situation.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Mr. Williams had an alibi, had the Detroit police checked for one.<\/p>\r\n

rb-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\"MSP<\/a>Just to celebrate Independence day<\/strong> – the Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology says, at least a quarter<\/a> of the nation’s law enforcement agencies have access to face recognition tools. The MSP database has almost 50 million pictures in it for about 8 million adults in Michigan. That is over 6 pictures per adult Michigander<\/strong> – many come from the Secretary of State when you get a driver’s license<\/strong> but undoubtedly many are scrapped from social media sites<\/strong><\/a>. Michigan is one of at least 16 states that allow the FBI to search its database<\/strong> of driver’s license photos.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

While the MSP didn’t start using facial recognition technology until 2001, the Secretary of State’s Office has been giving State Police all its digital photos \u2014 without notice to motorists \u2014 since 1998<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

\"DataWorks<\/a>DataWorks provides facial recognition systems to both DPD and MSP. The DPD two-year $1 million contract<\/strong> for the DataWorks Plus software is set to expire in July 2020<\/strong>. Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones told<\/a> the Detroit\u00a0News<\/a> that the police department agreed to pull back its most recent request for a contract extension and conduct community outreach before seeking approval to extend the contract through Sept. 30, 2022.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Dan Korobkin, deputy legal director for the ACLU of Michigan points out that Civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. “was the target of massive FBI surveillance, under what was then the latest state-of-the-art technology.” In response, Robert Stevenson, executive director of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police and retired chief of the Livonia Police Department, told<\/a> GovTech<\/a> he believes most Michiganders trust the police, “We’ve evolved in the last 50 years, as a country, and as police agencies.” Well just ask George Floyd.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Stay safe out there!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Related article<\/strong><\/p>\r\n