US Edition
Published • loading... • Updated
ACLU Seeks Apology Over Maryland Woman’s Facial-Recognition Misidentification
The ACLU says police relied on facial recognition without disclosing it and seeks policy changes after Williams spent 6 months in jail.
- On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union sent complaint letters to Montgomery, Prince George's, and Anne Arundel police departments, seeking an apology for Kimberlee Williams and policy reforms following her 2021 wrongful arrest based on facial recognition.
- A SunTrust bank investigator triggered the probe after a CrimeDex bulletin respondent "suggested, using facial recognition software" that Williams was the suspect, while Montgomery police sought charges without disclosing the technology's role to prosecutors.
- Facing 16 charges, including 12 felonies, Williams spent six months in jail across three counties before prosecutors sequentially dismissed the cases in late 2021.
- Mitha Nandagopalan of the Innocence Project warned that hiding facial recognition usage prevents proper scrutiny, allowing police to bypass basic investigative steps and leading to wrongful arrests.
- Maryland passed legislation in 2024 prohibiting law enforcement from using facial recognition as the sole basis for an arrest, restricting the types of cases where agencies can deploy the technology.
Insights by Ground AI
12 Articles
12 Articles
The police reports do not indicate that Kimberlee Williams has been verified on the date of the crimes he was accused, or that any connection has been made to the state of Maryland.
·Portugal
Read Full Article
Straight Arrow NewsReposted by 
ussanews.com
ussanews.comFacial-recognition software sent her to jail for months. She was the wrong person
When Kimberlee Williams accompanied her daughter to an Oklahoma military base in 2021, security officers learned that she was wanted for bank fraud in Maryland. Facial-recognition software had concluded Williams was the person responsible for impersonating individuals in Maryland and withdrawing thousands of dollars from their bank accounts. So she was taken into custody and held in an Oklahoma jail for 23 days — and then spent months more behin…
Coverage Details
Total News Sources12
Leaning Left3Leaning Right3Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution46% Center
Bias Distribution
- 46% of the sources are Center
46% Center
L 27%
C 46%
R 27%
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
