How Does Facial Recognition Work: The
The police could put handcuffs on you right at your front door. Police could match you to a thief just because a computer said so. That's exactly what happened to Porcha Woodruff in Detroit. She was pregnant, and she was innocent. Police search through photos like yours, too. Could a stranger's face put you in jail? Stick with me, and you won't be helpless.
Police can turn a picture of your face into 512 numbers. Police compare those numbers, not your actual face.
Someone's face gets caught on a security camera. Then the police use a program that measures that person's eyes and jaw. The ACLU wrote up what happened to Woodruff.
Researchers at the National Academies searched through 12 million photos. And 15 strangers ranked higher than the real person.
You could be one of those strangers. Police could search for someone else and find you instead. Then the police knock on your door.
Here's how that happened to Porcha Woodruff.
Porcha Woodruff lived in Detroit, Michigan. In February 2023, she was pregnant. Police ran video of a carjacking through face-matching software.
The ACLU says police matched her face to the wrong person. And police arrested her for robbery and carjacking.
Officers arrested her right at her home. Police held her for 11 hours. She was eight months pregnant, and she had contractions there.
Prosecutors later dropped the charges against her. Police had trusted a face match that wasn't reliable.
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She went to jail after one wrong match. And she needed a $100,000 bond to get out.
Woodruff wasn't the only one. Michael Oliver spent nearly 3 days in jail. Nijeer Parks spent 10 days in jail. Police wrongly matched both men using face software.
Say the police use face software that's 99% accurate. And say they search 10 million faces with it. They could end up with 100,000 wrong people.
Identical twins often get matched as the same person. Strangers with similar bone structure can, too.
Michael Oliver lost his job and his car. You could lose your job, too.
The ACLU laid out her whole case here. Police say face software helps them catch criminals. Instead, they caught a pregnant woman who was innocent.
No one ever proved Woodruff was there. Her numbers just came out close to a stranger's numbers. A programmer decided how close counts as a match. And police treated that programmer's choice like proof.
If the police come to your door, ask for a lawyer. Then ask them if face software named you.
Save a lawyer's phone number in your phone. Tell your family to call that number. Keep receipts that show where you were.
When you unlock your phone, it only checks your face against your own face. The police check your face against millions of other people's.
A stranger gets filmed by a security camera. Police turn that stranger's face into numbers. Your numbers just happen to come out close to the stranger's. Then police put your name on a warrant.
CaraComp wrote up the math behind all this. CaraComp also lists other wrongful arrests on its page.
NIST tests about 200 face programs. NIST finds that the best programs do great with clean photos. But police don't do their searches in a lab.
Ask your city if the police scan people's faces. Ask what else the police need before they can arrest someone. If you're arrested, contact your local ACLU.
Not everyone gets hit by these mistakes the same way. Some groups can get over 100 times more wrong matches. Is your family in that group?
Being innocent didn't keep Woodruff out of jail. But your proof and your lawyer can keep you free.
Tonight, tell your family Woodruff's name. Tell them to call a lawyer first. Then tell them where your receipts are.
The police won't call you before they show up. Save that lawyer's number tonight, before anyone knocks.
Every day we take one story like this and make it simple. Subscribe and tap the bell. Tomorrow's is free too. See you in today's briefing. If this helps, a like and a subscribe help us keep it coming.
