A new complaint reveals yet another incident of an innocent person being detained as a result of incorrect facial recognition matches, which has caused the Detroit Police Department (DPD) to come under additional scrutiny.
Porcha Woodruff, an African American woman who was eight months pregnant at the time, is the sixth individual to go forward in support of their claims that they were falsely accused due to law enforcement’s use of technology.
Woodruff was accused of carjacking and robbing others. She says, “I couldn’t believe it.”
This series of arrests linked to incorrect facial recognition has raised severe concerns because all six of the victims named by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) were African Americans. The first case involving a woman, which is Woodruff’s, becomes noteworthy.
In the past three years, the Detroit Police Department has made three recorded instances of arrests that have been linked to poor facial recognition matches.
To add more, a case against the DPD is currently proceeding on behalf of Robert Williams, who was also illegally detained in January 2020 as a result of the same technology. The ACLU of Michigan and the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative (CRLI) of the University of Michigan Law School are representing Williams in the litigation.
“It’s troubling that the Detroit Police Department continues to use flawed facial recognition technology for arrests despite being aware of its devastating consequences,” said Phil Mayor, Senior Staff Attorney at ACLU of Michigan.
The use of facial recognition technology in police enforcement has generated a great deal of discussion, with accuracy problems, racial prejudice issues, and potential invasions of privacy and civil liberties at the fore.
According to research, these algorithms identify people with darker skin tones more inaccurately, which disproportionately affects vulnerable communities.
Critics contend that using only facial recognition for arrests entails significant dangers, as demonstrated by the case of Woodruff, in which an innocent person had negative outcomes.
Demands for transparency and accountability have surged, with civil rights groups urging the Detroit Police Department to suspend facial recognition use until the technology undergoes rigorous testing to ensure impartiality and precision.
“The DPD continues to conceal its misuse of this technology, forcing victims of rights violations to expose its misconduct case by case,” the Mayor added.