6 ms·

non paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/technology/facial-recognition-false-arrests.html?unlocked_article_code=p8k1SD4fcE1PetJV5HloG61hxtLUx231n-ez3VZNr

by danso 4y ago

non paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/technology/facial-recognition-false-arrests.html?unlocked_article_code=p8k1SD4fcE1PetJV5HloG61hxtLUx231n-ez3VZNrfAQvYIWDd59XocjreM1LKwdt9nAIR3aIJnh0rBO6OrlVyTFpDZSs03kOLAQhM2q2ek_dQ0mCoACMOrxI375t6_oyI2uMMqof8PhoPREFyWF4CIcOrNnOcAeKShzPJbQPamhytesy4HcjCbVfim1Mm8PMZth51Dz1P3m_eVzwyla1JKeMeAXBReBLl62qIGUInFLBYEJKn_BjNqGF_pr_qi7H6nOsAFEqpv8yiJOWa9j9HGKP4UAOZDLR3c4TpwazqaQucaXqj-KKrpfh7UlfIFGy4RCRe6GnwlPBFrX3vn0YTXZ0Ud0pz_5eMDJXA&smid=url-share https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/technology/facial-recogni... Excerpt: > His parents made phone calls, hired lawyers and spent thousands of dollars to figure out why the police thought he was responsible for the crime, eventually discovering it was because Mr. Reid bore a resemblance to a suspect who had been recorded by a surveillance camera. The case eventually fell apart and the warrants were recalled, but only after Mr. Reid spent six days in jail and missed a week of work. > Mr. Reid’s wrongful arrest appears to be the result of a cascade of technologies — beginning with a bad facial recognition match — that are intended to make policing more effective and efficient but can also make it far too easy to apprehend the wrong person for a crime. None of the technologies are mentioned in official documents, and Mr. Reid was not told exactly why he had been arrested, a typical but troubling practice, according to legal experts and public defenders.

barbazoo 4y ago
Yikes. And there is very little people can do to prevent this until someone makes this their election platform to change the system, right? I'm assuming this is all constitutional.
sitkack 4y ago
How can non-official documents exist inside a government organization? What divides the two?
- joe_the_user 4y ago
  Bureaucracies operate by standard procedures. Official documents are produced by standard procedures and official documents are often available to the public on a standard search - in the case of police, official documents would also be available to judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys. Unofficial documents are produced by official not using standard procedures in any variety of ways (searching a private company's database in this instance). Generally, doing this is against the regulations of a bureaucracy. But American police view themselves and often treated as above regulations, even their own regulations. So American police often produce and keep unofficial documents with no consequences.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
lotsofpulp 4y ago
> Mr. Reid’s wrongful arrest appears to be the result of a cascade of technologies This statement is clearly false. As evidenced by > and Mr. Reid was not told exactly why he had been arrested Malfeasance is the cause, the level of which should result in prison sentences for the police who made the decision to deprive a person of their freedom and more for a week.
- than3 4y ago
  I'm sure they would simply say it was from improper training since most police recruits are never taught the law, and are often only dealing with hardened criminals for the first 5 years on-the-job.
  - joe_the_user 4y ago
    The idea that any police group (experienced, inexperienced, etc) "are often only dealing with hardened criminals for the first 5 years on-the-job" seems absurd on it's face. Police drive around an area and deal with the people and situations that arise in the area, which is to say they will inherent encounter average people most often. Violent crimes are less common than other crimes virtually anywhere. Edit: wow, OK, things beyond even me.
    - than3 4y ago
      In many areas, before you can be assigned to roles that interact with the public you generally have to have a number of years handling transfers, which often include hardened criminals for medical, court, jail/prison. It might be absurd, but it is common practice.
- sidewndr46 4y ago
  Are police in the US obligated to tell you why you are being arrested?
  - than3 4y ago
    I'm not sure about that, but they certainly aren't required to provide information needed to validate a warrant is legitimate. California recently had a gang round-up where warrants that were provided as the basis for searches for properties in question had almost all information needed to verify the validity of the warrant redacted (even the address for the property in question being presented at, at least according to local news). No one had any idea what was going on or whether the warrants were even legitimate, seemed like a play out of East Germany's playbook before the wall came down, just short of the gestapo.

by danso 4y ago

barbazoo 4y ago

Yikes. And there is very little people can do to prevent this until someone makes this their election platform to change the system, right? I'm assuming this is all constitutional.

sitkack 4y ago

How can non-official documents exist inside a government organization? What divides the two?

joe_the_user 4y ago
Bureaucracies operate by standard procedures. Official documents are produced by standard procedures and official documents are often available to the public on a standard search - in the case of police, official documents would also be available to judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys. Unofficial documents are produced by official not using standard procedures in any variety of ways (searching a private company's database in this instance). Generally, doing this is against the regulations of a bureaucracy. But American police view themselves and often treated as above regulations, even their own regulations. So American police often produce and keep unofficial documents with no consequences.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

lotsofpulp 4y ago

> Mr. Reid’s wrongful arrest appears to be the result of a cascade of technologies This statement is clearly false. As evidenced by > and Mr. Reid was not told exactly why he had been arrested Malfeasance is the cause, the level of which should result in prison sentences for the police who made the decision to deprive a person of their freedom and more for a week.

than3 4y ago
I'm sure they would simply say it was from improper training since most police recruits are never taught the law, and are often only dealing with hardened criminals for the first 5 years on-the-job.
- joe_the_user 4y ago
  The idea that any police group (experienced, inexperienced, etc) "are often only dealing with hardened criminals for the first 5 years on-the-job" seems absurd on it's face. Police drive around an area and deal with the people and situations that arise in the area, which is to say they will inherent encounter average people most often. Violent crimes are less common than other crimes virtually anywhere. Edit: wow, OK, things beyond even me.
  - than3 4y ago
    In many areas, before you can be assigned to roles that interact with the public you generally have to have a number of years handling transfers, which often include hardened criminals for medical, court, jail/prison. It might be absurd, but it is common practice.
sidewndr46 4y ago
Are police in the US obligated to tell you why you are being arrested?
- than3 4y ago
  I'm not sure about that, but they certainly aren't required to provide information needed to validate a warrant is legitimate. California recently had a gang round-up where warrants that were provided as the basis for searches for properties in question had almost all information needed to verify the validity of the warrant redacted (even the address for the property in question being presented at, at least according to local news). No one had any idea what was going on or whether the warrants were even legitimate, seemed like a play out of East Germany's playbook before the wall came down, just short of the gestapo.