Facial recognition has been used for a lot of security measures, including biometric locks on certain devices. It hasn't been long since it has been used in security footage as well, helping identify the culprits in committed crimes. Unfortunately, it has a high rate of misidentification, and another man lands in jail because of the flaw.
Robbery Suspect Wrongfully Jailed
Sunglass Hut was subjected to a robbery back in January 2022, leading to thousands of dollars worth of merchandise being stolen. In an attempt to help with the police investigation, an employee from Sunglass Hut worked with retail partner Macy's and used its facial recognition tech.
This resulted in 61-year-old Harvey Eugene Murphy Jr. being identified as the suspect in the crime, which eventually led to his arrest in October 2023, as he went to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to renew his license.
According to the lawsuit Murphy filed against Sunglass Hut's parent company EssilorLuxottica as well as Macy's, the image that was used for the facial recognition came from low-quality cameras, meaning that the result could be more inaccurate.
Despite that, the Sunglass Hut employee was confident enough to tell the police to stop the investigation as they already found the robber, as reported by The Guardian, and that Murphy was linked to two other robberies.
According to the wrongfully jailed victim, he was only told about the date of the robbery and realized that he was in Sacramento, California when it occurred, while the crime was committed in Houston, which is over a thousand miles away.
Murphy was taken to the county jail where he was held for 10 days before he was transferred to the Harris County Jail. After his alibi was confirmed by his defense attorney, he was released from jail, but not before he claimed to be physically and sexually assaulted.
"Our anxiety is up so high, you're still shaking the entire time. And I just got up on my bunk and just faced the wall and was just praying that something would come through and get me out of that tank," said Murphy.
Not the First Case
Sadly, this isn't the first time that someone was wrongfully arrested because of facial recognition. Back in August 2023, Porcha Woodruff, a woman pregnant for eight months was arrested and held by the police for 11 hours as they held her phone to scan for evidence.
The authorities used DataWorks Plus to perform the facial recognition scan and tied Woodruff to her previous mugshots from 2015. As reported by Ars Technica, the victim of the robbery even identified Woodruff as the culprit in a photo lineup.
She ended up being charged with the crime and was released on a $100,000 personal bond, but was later found to be innocent. Woodruff filed a lawsuit for wrongful arrest against the City of Detroit, with the police chief, James E. White, saying that the matter is being taken seriously.
