California weighs legislation to rein in facial recognition tech use by police

One bill would ban its use for 10 years, while the second could allow police to match images to the state driver’s license database

In 2020, Robert Williams was arrested for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars of watches. Detroit police had matched grainy surveillance footage of the crime to Williams’ driver’s license photo using a facial recognition service. But Williams wasn’t the robber. At the time of the robbery, he was driving home from work.

Williams’ arrest was the first documented case of someone being wrongfully detained based on facial recognition technology, which is used by police departments and government agencies across the US.