Overview
- Robert Dillon says he was wrongly arrested in August 2024 after a Jacksonville Beach probe image from November 2, 2023 was run through FACES and returned a 93 percent similarity score to his photo.
- The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit on June 10–11, 2026, accusing the Jacksonville Beach Police Department and the Jacksonville and Pinellas sheriff’s offices of relying on that algorithmic hit and omitting exculpatory evidence.
- The complaint alleges investigators used low‑quality cellphone photos of a monitor, omitted license‑plate‑reader results that showed Dillon’s vehicles were not near the scene, and presented a photo lineup that led a restaurant employee to pick Dillon.
- All criminal charges against Dillon were later dropped and his mug shot was removed, but the suit says he suffered financial loss, emotional distress, and lasting stigma from the arrest.
- FACES is a decades‑old law enforcement database that once held tens of millions of Florida booking and driver‑license photos, and advocates warn the case adds to at least a dozen known wrongful arrests that have prompted calls for stricter audits and legal limits on police use of facial recognition.