Facial recognition is used in day-to-day practices like airport security and unlocking mobile phones. It’s also increasingly used in law enforcement to identify suspects.
LaDonna Crutchfield, a woman living in Detroit with three children, said the software was used to incorrectly identify her in connection to a non-fatal shooting. Crutchfield was arrested by six Detroit police officers in front of her young children, niece, and neighbors last year before being released from custody hours later.
Ivan Land, Crutchfield’s attorney, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against the City of Detroit and the police officers involved her in arrest. In the lawsuit, Land wrote that “no investigation” was conducted prior to the arrest.
“I believe it’s lazy police work,” Land told Michigan Public. “And the person is so, so happy to be let go that they missed a part — that your civil rights have been violated.”
Detroit police authorities told Michigan Public that facial recognition software was not used in the case. Assistant Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald said Crutchfield was a person of interest for the crime due to a license plate seen at the crime scene.
“She is alleging that we use facial recognition, and we did not,” Fitzgerald said. “...So she was never put into our system. She was never run through the state. No facial rec was used, as she alleges.”
In response to allegations that no comprehensive investigation was done prior to the arrest, Fitzgerald said there was investigative work done that led the case’s detective to believe Crutchfield was a person of interest.
“I know there was plenty of work done. I would have liked to have seen more, but other than that, I don’t want to get too far into the weeds on what was being alleged,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald acknowledged that he could not share too much information related to the case considering that litigation is ongoing. He did briefly describe the work that led investigators to Crutchfield.
“From that point, they did some comparison work they looked at for green light video. They were trying to see if they can get more on the vehicle itself they're looking for,” Fitzgerald said. “They did identify a beige Ford Fusion that had a partial plate. They did some more digging on the Ford Fusion, and it led back to a house on the east side. That house on the east side led them to the plaintiff in this matter, Ms. Crutchfield.”
What is facial recognition and when is it used?
Facial recognition is a part of biometric security. It observes facial landmarks like the distance between one’s eyes and the depth of eye sockets and then converts that information into data, called a faceprint. A facial recognition system will create a list of potential matches from a database of photos and then an investigator will go through the results looking for a match. Matches are confirmed through additional police investigations.
Artificial intelligence and privacy researchers have found that facial recognition incorrectly identifies women and people with dark skin more frequently than white men. Recent studies have also shown that consumer comfort with sharing biometric data has fallen between 2022 and 2024.
The Detroit Police Department began using facial recognition technology in October 2020. Between then and December 10, 2023, the latest day data was available on the department’s website, the department has used facial recognition systems in 333 violent crimes. The Detroit Police Department limits facial recognition technology use to violent crimes or FBI Part 1 Offenses like robbery, murder, and aggravated assault.
“It has to be a violent Part 1 crime,” Fitzgerald said. “So for this non-fatal shooting that could have been used as part of policy. But then there’s other checks and balances along the way.”
The department submits weekly reports about its use of facial recognition technology on its website.
The lawsuit refers to two previous incidents in 2020 and 2023 in which the Detroit Police Department arrested an individual as a result of a faculty facial recognition match.
Land said he believes that facial recognition was used by authorities after submitting a Freedom of Information Act request in February 2024. Months later, Land said he received a mostly-redacted assisting officer’s report that said a “database search” resulted in Crutchfield matching the suspect.
The lawsuit says Crutchfield said she was lying in bed reading to her five-year-old daughter between work shifts when she heard a loud knock on her door on January 23, 2024. When Crutchfield appeared at the door, six police officers asked her to step out of her home and then arrested her. The officers did not tell her why she was being arrested.
The lawsuit says one of the police officers present, Dorian Hardy, told her that there was a warrant out for her arrest.
“So basically, you had to go to court,” Hardy said. “They summoned you to court and you didn't show up. I don't know if it got lost in the mail or whatever, but it says that you have a warrant for your arrest. All this means is that you have to come to court.”
Fitzgerald told Michigan Public that Crutchfield did not have a warrant out for her arrest. Crutchfield told the officers that she did not receive anything in the mail.
“There was no warrant for Ms. Crutchfield’s arrest. There was no warrants in the system. She wasn't wanted [for a] traffic [warrant] or anything like that…. She was strictly wanted on a probable cause for the crime.”
The lawsuit says Crutchfield said she only learned that she was being arrested for assault with an attempt to murder when she saw an officer type the charges into a computer in the police vehicle she was detained in. She was then taken to the Detroit Detention Center and was interviewed by Police Detective Marc Thompson.
The lawsuit says that when Crutchfield was shown photos of a Black woman wearing a bonnet, Thompson asked if she was the person in those photos. Crutchfield said the woman was not her and that she does not wear bonnets, according to the lawsuit.
“You got to admit it looks like you,” Thompson allegedly said to Crutchfield.
“Why? Because I am fat and Black like her?” Crutchfield allegedly asked in response.
Once Crutchfield was told the details of the shooting, including the date, time, and location, she told Thompson that she was at work on the date and time of the shooting and could prove that information. Thompson told his partner that he did not believe that Crutchfield had committed the crime, the lawsuit says.
“Defendant Thompson told [Crutchfield] that he needed to get back to his office to turn some paperwork in, so that [Crutchfield] could be released immediately. Defendant Thompson told [Crutchfield] that if she was not released that night, that he would personally come back to the Detroit Detention Center the next day to take [her] home,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit states that the alleged actions of the police officers caused unnecessary physical pain, humiliation, and emotional distress for Crutchfield and her family. It also alleges that the police officers arrested Crutchfield without probable cause, falsely accused her of assault with an attempt to murder, and misrepresented the existence of an arrest warrant.
