Innocent Black Man's Wrongful Arrest Blamed On Facial Recognition

DETROIT, MI — The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a formal complaint against Detroit police for wrongfully arresting an innocent Black man earlier this year, hauling him away in front of his children and locking him up for 30 hours, the group announced Wednesday.

Robert Williams, of Farmington Hills, was arrested Jan. 9 because facial recognition technology fails to distinguish between people of color, the ACLU said. The software, owned by Michigan State Police, told officers Williams was the watch thief they were on the hunt for.

"I never thought I’d have to explain to my daughters why Daddy got arrested," Williams wrote in an opinion piece submitted to The Washington Post and published Wednesday. "How does one explain to two little girls that a computer got it wrong, but the police listened to it anyway?"

The ACLU said that Detroit Police, convinced they had their thief, put Williams' driver's license photo in a lineup with other Black men and showed it to the shop security guard. The security guard said Williams was the guy, but the security guard had not even witnessed the robbery, according to the ACLU.

After spending a night in a cell, Williams saw the surveillance image for himself. While interrogating him, an officer pointed to the surveillance image and asked Williams if the man in the photo was him, the ACLU said. Williams said it wasn’t, put the image next to his face, and said “I hope you all don’t think all Black men look alike," according to the ACLU.

The ACLU said one officer said the computer technology must have gotten it wrong, but Williams was still held for several more hours. The charges have since been dismissed.

The Detroit Police Department said via email that it does not make arrests based solely on facial recognition.

"Facial Recognition software is an investigative tool that is used to generate leads only," the department said. "Additional investigative work, corroborating evidence and probable cause are required before an arrest can be made."

The complaint seeks an apology from Detroit Police for Williams, demands the agency stop using facial recognition technology and that any photographs of Williams be removed from the technology database.

"Robert Williams’ is the first known case of someone being wrongfully arrested because of a bogus face recognition match," the ACLU said. "If lawmakers don’t act now to stop law enforcement use of this technology, he won’t be the last."