US police facial recognition pioneer blames user error for wrongful arrest

Shout it from the mountaintops: Probable cause cannot come from facial recognition alone. That’s what one of the defendants in a wrongful arrest lawsuit filed by a Florida man who was suggested as the most biometrically similar candidate and subsequently arrested by an officer with Jacksonville Beach Police Department (JBPD).

That’s not how you do it, says Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), which provided the facial recognition comparison, in its response.

The suit names JBPD and PCSO, and is supported by the ACLU.

PCSO says in its response that it has entered into an MoU requiring JBPD to send its officers for training on facial recognition before they are allowed to use the system, reports local NBC affiliate WFLA.

The agency also denies responsibility, arguing that the assertion is based on a misunderstanding that the plaintiff and other defendant seem to share.

“Facial recognition results are never ‘matches.’ Independent investigation is required,” PCSO states.

Not clear enough?  How about: “It was wrong for the JBPD officer to determine probable cause existed” and “(l)iability for doing that rests solely with any officer who did so”?

The situation does not reflect a failure on the part of PCSO or its FACES (and updated FACESNXT) software, according to the response. Instead, it is reflective of “a people problem.”

Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s view on the matter should carry weight in the law enforcement community, and not just because it provides facial recognition to hundreds of police departments through FACES. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri also chairs the National Sheriffs’ Association’s facial recognition working group, established in 2020. He took that role in part because PCSO already had many years of experience with biometric technology.

Unfortunately, the people problem PCSO identifies is not isolated, having been demonstrated repeatedly in police departments across the country.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System (FACES)  |  facial recognition  |  false arrest  |  Florida  |  law enforcement  |  responsible biometrics