Facial Recognition Tool Leads to False Arrests, Lawyer Says | WGN Radio 720

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The use of facial recognition technology by Louisiana officials led to the arrest of a Georgia man on a warrant for misidentification, an attorney says, adding caution to racial disparities in the use of digital tools. I mentioned it in the incident to make.

According to The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate, 28-year-old Randall Reid was jailed in DeKalb County, Georgia, in late November.

His attorney, Tommy Calogero, said authorities falsely linked Reed to wallet thefts in Jefferson Parish and Baton Rouge. rice field.

Reed is black, and his arrest has drawn renewed attention to the use of technology, which critics say has a higher rate of misidentification for people of color than for whites.

“They said I had a warrant from the Jefferson Parish. I asked, ‘What is the Jefferson Parish?'” Reed said. “I’ve never been to Louisiana for a day in my life. Then they said it was voyeurism. So not only have I never been to Louisiana, I don’t steal.”

Calogero said Reid was falsely linked to stealing a luxury wallet from Metairie’s consignment store in the Jefferson Parish suburb of New Orleans in June.

According to court records, Baton Rouge Police Department detectives ordered Jefferson Parish to secure an arrest warrant claiming they were one of three men involved in the theft of another luxury purse that same week. Adopted the ID of the lead in the sheriff’s office.

Differences such as a mole on Reed’s face prompted Sheriff Jefferson to revoke the warrant, Calogero said.

The office of Sheriff Jefferson Joe Lopinto responded to several requests from the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate for information on Reed’s arrest and release, the agency’s use of facial recognition, or protective measures around it. Did not respond.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the story and information about its use of technology emailed by The Associated Press on Monday.

Reid’s case is drawing renewed attention to the use of facial recognition tools in Louisiana and elsewhere.

Facial recognition systems have faced criticism for their large-scale surveillance features that pose privacy concerns, with some studies suggesting that the technology is far more likely to misidentify blacks and other people of color than whites. , which has been shown to lead to false arrests.

According to New Orleans police, facial recognition can only be used to generate clues, and officers must obtain official approval before submitting requests through Louisiana’s analysis and fusion exchange in Baton Rouge. It is said that there is. The latest city regulations require all possible matches to be peer-reviewed by other facial recognition investigators.

A statewide law restricting the use of facial recognition will be repealed in the 2021 legislature.