A Black man was reportedly jailed in Louisiana for almost a week for a crime he did not commit, according to his lawyer.
Police arrested 28-year-old Randal Reid after running facial recognition technology to identify him. However, the alleged suspect said that he has not yet gone to Louisiana.
Face Recognition Error Leads to Man's Arrest
In a report by Gizmodo earlier this week, the police accused Reid of stealing $10,000 worth of deluxe bags (Louis Vuitton and Chanel) which led to his arrest.
According to the report, Reid was with his mother for a Thanksgiving dinner when the policemen arrived. The cops immediately arrested him and jailed him for almost a week.
The cops said that they used a facial recognition system to search Reid in the city. The New Orleans Advocate noted.
However, according to Tommy Calogero, Reid's lawyer, the police released his client on December 1, 2022. He added that the cops did not even check his weight and height.
Calogero even insisted that Reid was too far from the description of the police. Considering that he's 40 pounds lighter than the real suspect, the authorities acknowledged a mismatch in the investigation brought by facial recognition error.
The lawyer said that the police might have just based their accusations on the surveillance camera that captured the culprit.
Back in June, the suspect was caught entering the credit card number at the store. He got it from an unknown victim.
"Police could have checked his height and weight or made an effort to speak to him or asked to walk through his house to look for evidence. He would have complied," Calogero said in an interview with a news outlet.
Facial Recognition Bias
As Ars Technica spotted via Times-Picayune/New Orleans advocate, the police identified Reid as one of the potential suspects who was involved in a luxury purse heist at a shop located at Jefferson Highway.
The same report mentioned that the Sheriff's office was not responding to the request regarding Reid's arrest warrant.
According to the Baton Rouge police, Lopinto's office did not state how Reid was identified as the suspect in the incident, as per the warrant.
Indeed, facial recognition technology could be beneficial and harmful in some cases. The case of Reid is an example that the system is flawed and it needs more improvement to avoid misidentifying people based on their culture, the color of their skin, facial features, and more.
In 2020, another incident of facial recognition failure was recorded. Tech Times reported that the police falsely arrested a New Jersey man because he allegedly stole from a store in Woodbridge.
Later, the victim filed a lawsuit against the cops who arrested him. The police reportedly used suspicious facial recognition software to identify the victim.
