Man wrongly arrested after Orlando police used facial recognition
By Justin Schecker
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ORLANDO, Florida (WESH) — WESH 2 Investigates has learned the wrongful arrest of a Central Florida man for crimes he did not commit last year was the result of an Orlando Police officer’s use of facial recognition technology.
Back in November, Orlando Police Department’s Chief of Staff David Arnott denied in an email that facial recognition was used to identify Beau Burgess as a suspect.
But the department’s own internal investigation revealed an officer relied on what’s known as the FACES database.
The look on Burgess’ face said it all.
Body camera video obtained by WESH 2 Investigates showed Burgess was shocked when a Volusia sheriff’s deputy, whom he recognized at a Home Depot, placed him in handcuffs in August.
Burgess, who lives in New Smyrna Beach, was arrested on two warrants for fraud and theft crimes last June at Universal Orlando Resort Hotels.
“This could happen to anybody,” Burgess said. “I mean, it could happen to you.”
Burgess filed citizen complaints against two officers involved in his arrest.
An internal affairs investigation found one of them identified Burgess with a still image, “which appeared to be taken from the BWC of the Cabana Bay trespass.”
“So, basically it’s gonna be a trespass from all Universal Studios properties,” an officer is heard telling the man in the video.
A hotel company employee told police the subject, who racked up more than $4,400 in unpaid charges, received a trespass order from an OPD officer on June 22.
Police believed the man in the video gave a fake name.
While WESH 2 Investigates is not showing his face, the man is clearly not Burgess.
“In the video, he has shorts on,” Burgess said. “He has no tattoos at all on his legs. And my legs are covered in tattoos. And you can see it plain and clear.”
The OPD internal affairs report said the officer ran the still image “through the FACES database.”
Florida’s “Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System” is operated by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
It contains millions of driver’s license images and jail booking photos.
“An individual could have multiple images in a database if they were arrested multiple times,” said Dr. Michael King, a professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.
Dr. King said he worked on developing facial recognition technology during his 15 years in the federal government’s intelligence community.
“So, this is a form of artificial intelligence in the broader sense,” he said.
King told WESH 2 Investigates that more education is needed “from the officer to the judges that actually sign off on the warrant and those that actually adjudicate at trial, that the technology is not infallible.”
He also served as an expert witness when the ACLU brought a landmark lawsuit against the City of Detroit for the wrongful arrest of Robert Williams in January 2020.
“It was the first one that came to light that indeed someone was arrested when they were not involved in the crime at all on the basis of a face recognition search,” King explained.
King said this technology that extracts unique facial features is a vital tool for investigation, but he added, “It is absolutely vital that law enforcement, when using the technology, uses it in a manner where they understand that the technology only produces a lead, it does not confirm identification.”
The internal affairs report references the Orlando Police Department’s Policy and Procedure for facial recognition, which states, “The result of a facial recognition search shall only be considered as an investigative lead and IS NOT TO BE CONSIDERED A POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION OF ANY SUBJECT OR PROBABLE CAUSE FOR ARREST.”
In the case against Burgess, it was a decade-old booking photo that matched the image from the body camera.
Police said the hotel employee who reported the alleged crimes picked his picture out of a lineup of six.
“I just got a new DMV picture,” Burgess said. “They didn’t even look at that.”
The internal affairs investigator wrote that OPD legal “advised that officers are not obligated to collect or review new exculpatory evidence offered by a defendant after an arrest has occurred.”
Burgess said police should have contacted him before his arrest, so he could have shown them his tattoos or the timecard validating he was nearly 70 miles from the hotels on the dates of the alleged offenses.
“Right, when they got that facial recognition, they just said, that’s him, and like, I was, I’ve never been so stunned in my life,” Burgess said.
The internal affairs investigation exonerated both OPD officers of any policy violations.
Fortunately for Burgess, the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office has dropped both criminal cases.
Dr. King said this case is now the 11th publicly reported example nationwide of facial recognition leading to a wrongful arrest.
Orlando police sent WESH 2 Investigates this statement regarding the wrongful arrest and use of facial recognition:
“The Orlando Police Department utilizes an analysis system called FACES which is ‘Facial Analysis Comparison & Examination System.’ This system compares submitted photos to Florida driver’s licenses/identification cards and booking photos that participating Florida counties share. This analysis system is for law enforcement only. The photos compared never identifies a subject. It is not considered a positive identification of any subject or probable cause for arrest. The comparison simply provides law enforcement with a possible lead which can be investigated further.
“The Orlando Police Department does not utilize a Facial recognition system that compares photos to open-source photos such as social media and other public information. A policy is in place regarding the use of FACES, along with training the Officers receive that are authorized to utilize it. The Police Department Legal Advisor has ensured that Officers acknowledge results from FACES are strictly for investigative leads. Officers are only to take law enforcement action based on their own identity determination.
“The Universal employee positively identified Burgess as the suspect involved in this incident which enabled (the officer) to develop probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant signed by a Judge. As for the prosecution of this case, the Orlando Police Department will not comment on the decision made by the State Attorney’s Office.”
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