Facial recognition technology used by the NYPD misidentified Travis Williams, leading to his arrest and an indecent exposure charge. Williams spent two days in custody before prosecutors continued the case despite defense evidence placing him away from the scene. The case was eventually dismissed. The Legal Aid Society reports this as the seventh wrongful arrest tied to the technology in five years and calls for a citywide ban. Advocates contend accuracy failures risk wrongful convictions and reputational harm while the actual perpetrator remains at large. Williams reports ongoing stress and fear about possible wrongful sex-offender registration.
He was arrested, he was prosecuted, and in spite of us telling the district attorney's office that we had evidence that Mr. Williams was nowhere near the scene of the crime at the time, the case continued.
If it's not 100%, then they shouldn't use it because a lot of people are going to end up in prison or with tarnished names for something that they didn't do.
It's very stressful. It's always on my mind. I still think about what if I had to register as a sex offender for something that I didn't do.
At the point, it is clear that the NYPD cannot be trusted with this technology and lawmakers have to move to ban its use.
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