Posted on 07/18/2026 12:40:12 PM PDT by simpson96
Police in Florida arrested a man and held him in jail for nearly three months based on a bad facial recognition result. It's far from the first time such a thing has happened—in fact, it's at least the second time that the same sheriff's office was involved, according to Action News Jax.
In April 2025, a man in Jacksonville, Florida, purchased a car from someone he met in a grocery store parking lot. When he learned the car was stolen, he reported the crime to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Using surveillance footage from the parking lot, investigators ran the suspect through facial recognition software, which flagged Jalil Richardson as an 85 percent match.
The case had problems. First and foremost, Richardson lived in Charlotte, North Carolina—400 miles away. Not only that, but time cards showed Richardson was at work when the suspect was selling a stolen car in Jacksonville.
But that didn't dissuade police. Richardson was arrested in North Carolina and held for 33 days, at which point he was extradited to Jacksonville and held for another 53 days. Prosecutors finally dropped the charges and released him last month after he had spent nearly three months in jail.
Richardson told Action News Jax that the arrest and confinement cost him his job, his house, and custody of two of his children.
Arresting someone for a crime he did not commit is among the worst things law enforcement can do, especially if that arrest causes negative results in the arrestee's life. But this is not the only time in recent memory that cops in Jacksonville have made this mistake.
Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the city of Jacksonville Beach, a separate municipality just east of Jacksonville. Police officers were investigating an attempted child abduction when a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigator ran photos of grainy surveillance footage of the suspect through facial recognition. The software flagged Robert Dillon, whom officers arrested and charged, even though he lived and worked 300 miles away.
The ACLU identified at least 15 people, including Dillon and Richardson, who had been arrested since 2019 based on bad facial recognition.
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The famous case of software no longer used:
Using a database of 25,000 public arrest photos, the software falsely matched 28 lawmakers to mugshots.
Someone here posted as a reply to me: Only 28? How come it didn’t catch the other ones in Congress?
https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/amazons-face-recognition-falsely-matched-28
SUMMARY: The witnesses IDed him in a photo lineup because he looked 85% like the perp.
This is a horrible story.
But auto theft isn’t even considered much of a crime these days. Why didn’t he bond out or bail after a couple days? Why would they hold an alleged car thief in jail for a month?
Thanks for the link.
The legislature needs to fix that so that an charges cannot be brought without the “facial recog” being shored up by another piece of evidence. Compensation for real $ losses should be automatic with other damages and punitives being open to lawsuit.
“”””But auto theft isn’t even considered much of a crime these days. Why didn’t he bond out or bail after a couple days? Why would they hold an alleged car thief in jail for a month?”””
Yup. Something is not adding up. ACLU is not always a reliable source...or EVER.
Lack of skin pigmentation.
Not only that, but facial recognition software uses photos illegally scraped from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other similar sites. When we uploaded our pictures we never consented that they could be used for this purpose. This is illegal but the authorities turn a blind eye to it, and several software companies like Clearview AI have made millions off our faces. Anyone who values privacy should be outraged by this.
Just wait till AI is out in charge of security. False alerts will be common and the innocent person will have no recourse.
Lawyers lining up ....
“””””The case had problems. First and foremost, Richardson lived in Charlotte, North Carolina—400 miles away. Not only that, but time cards showed Richardson was at work when the suspect was selling a stolen car in Jacksonville.”””””
“””Richardson was arrested in North Carolina and held for 33 days, at which point he was extradited to Jacksonville and held for another 53 days.”””
Two different law enforcement and legal organizations, jail sentences and confiscation of pay for everyone who deserves it.
At least they’re doing facial recognition. Cops have been locking up people because Flock cameras and systems have been flagging cars and ID’ing their owners (not drivers) based on license plates which are sometimes not read correctly.
This part throws a whole bunch of Red Flags. I can maybe understand why Florida would hold him. But why North Carolina? There are relevent facts here that aren't being reported.
I agree. There’s more to the story than is being reported.
Back the Blue...
I’m not gonna say there is more to this story than they are letting on. But, there is more to this story than they are letting on.
Jalil Richardson ... apparently even AI facial recognition can’t tell ‘em apart ...
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