DETROIT – Police are addressing the wrongful arrest of a Detroit woman after she filed a lawsuit against the city and a police officer.
The woman said she was eight months pregnant when she was falsely arrested and accused of carjacking based on facial recognition technology.
Porcha Woodruff, 32, said she was getting her two children ready for school on Feb. 16 when six Detroit police officers showed up at her house and arrested her.
Detroit police chief James White said the arrest was a mistake, and more police work should have been done before any arrests were made.
“This would be no different than if we took a mug book, a paper mug book, like the old days, and took a picture out and went out and said ‘Is this the person?’ and you said ‘Yes’ and we arrested them. That would be improper. The same is true here. That is the beginning of the investigation,” White said.
White said the picture alone was not enough to arrest anyone and more police work should have been done.
The investigator in this case is now the subject of a professional standards investigation and White said he has put policy changes in place. Anytime a picture like this is used, generated off facial recognition it will need to be double-peer reviewed.
---> Pregnant woman’s arrest in carjacking case spurs call to end Detroit police facial recognition