A federal lawsuit claims that a facial recognition system powered by artificial intelligence resulted in the mistaken arrest of a pregnant woman for a violent carjacking. Six police officers showed up to Porcha Woodruff’s Detroit house in February as she was getting her kids ready for school. Woodruff was brought into custody and informed that she was being arrested for robbery and carjacking while eight months pregnant. The officers presented the victim with a lineup in which Woodruff was incorrectly labeled as a suspect after using a faulty face recognition match.
Despite the fact that the police had access to a more recent photo in Woodruff’s driver’s license, the image that was utilized in the lineup was an old mugshot from an earlier arrest. In front of her wailing children, the expectant lady was handcuffed and brought into a police car while her family and neighbors looked on. Woodruff’s responses to their questions did not fit the profile of the person they were looking for.
After spending hours in a holding cell, Woodruff and the baby both experienced medical issues including dehydration. Ultimately, the case was thrown out for lack of evidence. Woodruff sued the Detroit Police Department in federal court, requesting damages and changes to how the department uses facial recognition software.
This occurrence is not an anomaly. Before Woodruff was wrongfully detained, two Black males by the names of Robert Williams and Michael
Oliver was also wrongfully charged using AI face recognition technology, which resulted in publicized litigation. Numerous studies have demonstrated the racial biases and errors of facial recognition technology, with Asian and African American faces substantially more likely to be incorrectly detected than white faces.
It has become clear that law enforcement agencies using facial recognition technology need to be reformed and require more precise investigative techniques. The inequities and ingrained biases in facial recognition technology have all been shown in studies by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology and other academic research. This worrisome suggestion is the focus of Woodruff’s lawsuit, which also calls for accountability and change.
