Accuser

A recent study by The Washington Post has revealed a startling number of cases where innocent people have been accused or arrested for crimes because they were identified through a faulty deployment of AI-driven facial recognition software.

Katie Kinsey is chief of staff for the Policing Project at the NYU School of Law. According to Kinsey, such software is often used to analyze low-quality, grainy surveillance photos or images, and as a result perform demonstrably worse in real-world situations compared to laboratory tests involving crystal-clear, high-resolution images.

Additionally, police often succumb to a phenomenon known as “automation bias,” where people tend to believe that machines or computers are less biased and more trustworthy. This phenomenon, combined with other identification techniques with limited efficacy like witness testimony, often create scenarios where officers hastily jump to conclusions without doing their due diligence. Sometimes officers fail to account for the possibility that innocent citizens might bear physical similarities to criminal suspects. Other times, they rely on the facial recognition hit without using other forensic evidence for confirmation.

For example, a medical entrepreneur named Jason Vernau spent three days behind bars after being arrested for check fraud after police used facial recognition to ID him as a bank customer. In this case, the software was correct; Vernau had been in the Miami bank where the fraudulent check was deposited, but he was there to deposit a legitimate check. Had officers done even a cursory examination of his financial documents, or the time stamps in the security footage, they would’ve ruled him out as a suspect.

“This is your investigative work?” That’s what Vernau asked the detectives who questioned him. “You have a picture of me at a bank and that’s your proof? I said, ‘where’s my fingerprints on the check? Where’s my signature?’”

After Vernau was released, prosecutors later dropped the case, but Vernau said he is still working to get the charges removed from his record.

Possible Preaching Angles:

This story highlights several themes that resonate with biblical narratives, particularly concerning justice, false accusations, and the dangers of relying on flawed systems or human biases.

After a two-week battle with a sudden fast-spreading infection, Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, passed away. Dean had recently given a deposition alleging that his firing in 2023 was in retaliation for having disclosed what he called “serious and gross misconduct by senior quality management of the 737 production line.”

The Boeing 737 MAX has a troubled safety record, with high-profile crashes in 2018 and 2019 killing hundreds, and an Alaska Airlines flight in early 2024 that had to make an emergency landing after an explosive decompression due to an insufficiently secured door plug.

According to The Seattle Times, Dean was 45 years old, in relatively good health, and known for a healthy lifestyle. In February, he spoke to NPR about Spirit’s troubling safety practices.

"Now, I'm not saying they don't want you to go out there and inspect a job … but if you make too much trouble, you will get the Josh treatment,” Dean said, about his previous firing. “I think they were sending out a message to anybody else. If you are too loud, we will silence you.”

Dean’s death comes two months after another Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, was found dead of a potentially self-inflicted gunshot wound. Barnett was also in the process of testifying against Boeing about potential safety lapses in the manufacturing of the Boeing 787, and claims that he was similarly retaliated against for his whistleblowing. Barnett was 63 at the time of his death, and known for a vocal criticism of what he perceived to be Boeing’s declining production standards.

Dean’s attorney Brian Knowles, whose firm also represented Barnett, refused to speculate on whether the two deaths are linked, but insisted that people like Dean and Barnett are important.

Knowles said, “Whistleblowers are needed. They bring to light wrongdoing and corruption in the interests of society. It takes a lot of courage to stand up. It’s a difficult set of circumstances. Our thoughts now are with John’s family and Josh’s family.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Sometimes telling the truth can be costly. But this should never inhibit us from standing for the truth.

When a protester at a press conference in Boston stood up to make his voice known, he intended to attack the credibility of Boston mayor Michelle Wu.

The unidentified man wearing sunglasses and a mask asked city officials to probe all criminal cases involving Annie Dookhan, a former chemist who pleaded guilty years prior to evidence tampering and falsifying drug results. Dookhan’s involvement has the potential to taint thousands of drug cases over the years.

The protester said, “You’re a political puppet … Why don’t you look into it, Mayor Wu? Look into that — you’ll find the truth, Mayor Wu.”

Unfortunately, the woman at the platform was not Mayor Wu, but Beth Huang, executive director of Massachusetts Voter Table, a voting-rights advocacy group. “If only being a 5’4″ Asian woman imbued in me the powers of being mayor of Boston,” Huang wrote on Twitter the following day.

Possible Preaching Angle:

When people make careless accusations without having all the facts, they can cause great damage and even discredit the cause for which they stand.

When Joliet Police sergeant Javier Esqueda received a hand-delivered letter from one of his peers, he knew it was bad news. The letter was from the president of the police supervisor’s union, informing Esqueda of a near-unanimous vote to expel him from their ranks.

The letter read, “The Executive Board finds cause that you engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the orderly operation of the Association. And your conduct is deemed so reprehensible that removal from membership is appropriate.”

What was Esqueda’s conduct that was deemed so reprehensible? He leaked a video to the media of several officers mistreating a man in their custody. In January of 2020, officers were transporting Eric Lurry to their local police station when he appeared to lose consciousness. Officers suspected that immediately prior Lurry had swallowed drugs as an attempt to evade arrest, and therefore could’ve understood Lurry’s loss of consciousness as drug-induced medical distress.

But the officers didn’t transport Lurry to the hospital. Not only that, but they also repeatedly struck Lurry, restricted his airway, and at one point shoved a baton into his mouth. Hours later, Lurry died of a drug overdose. For their actions, the officers all received minor punishment, including a six-day suspension for the officer who intentionally turned off the sound to the recording.

But for leaking the squad car video, Esqueda was charged by prosecutors of four counts of misconduct. Not only was he removed from the police union, but he faces up to 20 years in prison. Esqueda said, “They all wanted me charged, they all want me gone, and by doing this, it’s self-gratification for them.”

After USA TODAY ran a story on Esqueda, the Illinois Attorney General’s office launched a formal investigation, which resulted in Joliet police chief Dawn Malec being demoted.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Christians should always be bold truth tellers, exposing injustice as we walk in the light of truth.

Judge Donna Scott Davenport was the subject of a recent ProPublica investigation because of the staggering rate at which children are arrested and put in a juvenile detention center. Among cases referred to juvenile court, the statewide average for how often children were locked up was 5%. In Rutherford County, it was 48%.

The exposé centered on one particular case where police were called to arrest several children at Hobgood Elementary School in Murfreesboro. The children were identified from video footage from a recent fight.

But the children targeted were not participants in the fight, merely onlookers. School resource officer Chrystal Templeton refused to arrest the boys who were fighting because she figured the local district attorney thought they were too young to be charged. But she wanted to find a way to charge all the other students in the periphery.

So, Templeton, in consultation with two local judicial commissioners fabricated a crime called “criminal responsibility” that they thought would apply. On that basis, Templeton and several other officers made a public spectacle of arresting several children on school grounds, weeks after the fight had taken place.

But it turns out, Templeton and commissioner Sherry Hamlett were incorrect. When Hamlett came up with “criminal responsibility for conduct of another” as a possible charge, there was a problem. There is no such crime. It is rather a basis upon which someone can be accused of a crime. For example, a person who caused someone else to commit robbery would be charged with robbery, not “criminal responsibility.”

As for Judge Davenport, she not only appointed the commissioners herself, but it was her reputation for harsh treatment of juveniles, that motivated Templeton to find a creative solution for charging the children. She thought that getting the children to appear in Davenport’s juvenile court would ultimately help them. Eventually, the families of the children collectively received almost $400,000 in settlements from a class action suit against the city and county for illegal arrests and incarceration.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Any adult that is overly punitive in dealing with children risks God’s anger toward those who mistreat children. Children need boundaries and accountability, but they also need grace, forgiveness, and enough space to make mistakes without being branded as criminal outcasts.

A government agency designed to protect those who blow the whistle on corruption and malfeasance was retaliating against the very people it’s supposed to protect.

The Trump administration created the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (OAWP) in 2017. The President was quoted as saying, “This bill protects whistleblowers who do the right thing. We want to reward, cherish, and promote the many dedicated employees at the VA.” Now, however, the OAWP is being investigated by a watchdog group called the Office of Inspector General.

Dan Martin of VA’s Northern Indiana Health Care System said “OAWP set me up.” When Martin discovered improper contracting practices, he was reassigned by his superiors to work in an office with no heat or air conditioning. When the VA launched an investigation, they asked Martin to record several conversations with his superiors. But after the OAWP was brought into the loop, his superiors became aware of his cooperation against them. “They incentivized [my facility] to go after me.”

Tom Devine, legal director at a government whistleblower advocacy group, praised the early accomplishments of the OAWP. But he now claims “didn’t have the teeth to enforce their good deeds … (and) they turned on the whistleblowers.”

Potential Preaching Angles: God is not pleased when those entrusted with enforcing the law do not do so. Part of our calling as Christians is helping to protect those who are falsely accused.

"You were right. Talking through the problem brought us to an agreement--that it's all YOUR fault."