Amazon Rekognition faces scrutiny in false arrest lawsuit

Amazon Web Services was added as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by Christopher Gatlin, who spent 17 months in jail after St. Louis police used Amazon Rekognition on a grainy, blurry image of a masked suspect. The amended complaint, filed August 13, 2026, alleges poor police work, inadequate training, misconduct and a defective facial recognition system. AWS said its terms of service prohibit police use of Rekognition’s face comparison feature in criminal investigations.