Wrongfully Arrested Because of Flawed Face Recognition Technology
The short version: The ACLU's documentation of Robert Williams' wrongful arrest shows what happens when police treat flawed algorithmic matches as ground truth — the same risk baked into ALPR dragnets.
Our Take
The ACLU's video revisits the case of Robert Williams, a Michigan man arrested in front of his family after facial recognition software misidentified him. It's a chilling watch, and credit to the ACLU for keeping this story in public view years after it happened. The specifics are about face recognition, but the underlying failure mode is exactly what we track with license plate readers: a machine spits out a "match," a human treats it as confirmed fact, and due process gets skipped.
Flock Safety's ALPR network runs on the same basic logic — automated systems generating investigative leads that police then act on with real handcuffs and real consequences. There's no independent audit requirement in most jurisdictions, no meaningful transparency about error rates, and often no easy path for someone wrongly flagged to find out why. Williams' case became national news because he could prove where he was. Most people swept up by an algorithmic false positive never get that chance, and most departments never have to explain themselves.
This is why we keep pushing people to look at what's actually watching their own streets. Check our camera map to see if Flock cameras are logging your plate every time you leave the driveway, and visit our take-action page if you want to push back on unaccountable surveillance before it produces its own Robert Williams story.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of ACLU, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.