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A running, sourced timeline of how license-plate readers, body cams and AI policing tools are actually going — and what the failures cost taxpayers.

Timeline / entry

· Detroit, MI

Detroit pays $300,000 to first person known to be wrongly arrested on a face-recognition match

On June 28, 2024 the City of Detroit and Robert Williams formalized a settlement of Williams v. City of Detroit, the ACLU-backed suit over his January 2020 arrest. Detroit police had matched his driver’s licence photo to security video of a 2018 shoplifting at a Shinola store; he was arrested outside his home in front of his family and held for about 30 hours. His case was the first publicly reported wrongful arrest attributed to a false face-recognition match. The city agreed to pay $300,000. Under the court-enforceable agreement, Detroit police may no longer arrest anyone solely on a face-recognition result or on a photo lineup built from one; a match may serve only as a lead requiring independent corroboration. The department must also review cases from 2017 to 2023 in which the technology was used and notify prosecutors of any arrest made without independent evidence. The ACLU called it the strongest police policy on the technology in the country.

$300,000Settlementreportedon THE TAB$300,000 paid by the City of Detroit per ACLU, Michigan Public, CBS Detroit and AP-derived reports.

Also in Detroit, MI

3 entries over 4 yr, oldest first. The gap is the time since the previous one.

  1. Detroit man sues police for wrongful arrest based on facial recognition
  2. +3 yr 3 moDetroit pays $300,000 to first person known to be wrongly arrested on a face-recognition match this entry
  3. +9 monthsDetroit to pay $35K after license plate reader error prompts wrongful detainment of mom, toddler

Sources

  1. Williams v. City of Detroit — American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org)
  2. "It didn't make sense at all": Wrongful facial recognition arrest in Detroit leads to landmark settlement — Michigan Public, Jun 28, 2024 (michiganpublic.org)
  3. Detroit will pay $300,000 to man wrongly accused of theft, making changes in use of facial technology — CBS Detroit (cbsnews.com)
  4. Civil Rights Advocates Achieve the Nation's Strongest Police Department Policy on Facial Recognition Technology — American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org)

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