Police
body cameras and tower camera video show some of what happened on May 30 as
protesters squared off with Miami officers forming a line outside of their
Downtown headquarters.
The
videos, exclusively obtained by NBC 6 Investigators, captured heated moments as
objects were thrown at officers and they popped tear gas to retake control of
patrol cars.
Police say Oriana Albornoz, 25, threw two rocks at an officer hitting him once and injuring his leg. The department provided a video that shows her throwing something at officers standing across the street but it is difficult to discern what it is.
NBC 6 Investigators found a facial recognition program was used to identify a woman accused of throwing rocks at Miami Police officers during a protest on May 30. NBC 6’s Phil Prazan reports.
The incident report also states the officer’s body camera captured the moment, but the department didn’t provide that video to NBC 6.
A
month later, Albornoz was arrested and charged with battery on a police
officer. She has pleaded not guilty.
The
NBC 6 Investigators found police used the facial recognition program Clearview
AI to find her.
A recent NBC 6 investigation found police departments across South Florida, including Miami, are using the technology, which identifies people through publicly available photos including social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Albornoz’s
attorney Mike Gottlieb did not know police used the technology to identify his
client and questioned how it was used.
“It looks like they’ve just done a regular photographic line up and had it not been for the vigilance of your news agency, I would not have known this,” Gottlieb said.
Police
make no mention of the technology in the arrest report – only writing Albornoz
was “identified through investigative means.”
“We don’t know where they got the image,” Gottlieb said. “So how or where they got her image from begs other privacy rights. Did they dig through her social media? How did they get access to her social media? he asked.”
According
to the Miami Police’s policy, facial recognition technology shall not be used
to conduct surveillance of people exercising “constitutionally protected
activities” like protesting.
“This
means that if someone is peacefully protesting and not committing a crime, we
cannot use it against them,” Miami Police Assistant Chief Armando Aguilar told
NBC 6 in an earlier interview.
But
Aguilar says that changes if a crime is committed, adding throwing rocks at
officers is a crime.
“We have used the technology to identify violent protesters who assaulted police officers, who damaged police property, who set property on fire. We have made several arrests in those cases and more arrests are coming in the near future,” he said.
The department’s policy requires keeping a log documenting all facial recognition searches and conducting monthly audits. It also states that “a positive facial recognition search result alone does not constitute probable cause of an arrest.”
Gottlieb
calls the police investigation “very disingenuous” and tells us he’s concerned
there are no statewide rules and regulations for facial recognition.
NBC
6 Investigators found Miami Police have a much more detailed policy than other
departments using the technology in South Florida. The Broward County Sheriff’s
Office, Miami-Dade Police and Coral Spring Police told NBC 6 they have not used
the technology to make arrests during the protests following the death of
George Floyd.
In
an email, the Clearview’s CEO Hon Ton-That told
NBC 6: “Clearview AI is also committed to the responsible use of its powerful
technology and is used only for after-the-crime investigations to help identify
criminal suspects. It is not intended to be used as a surveillance tool
relating to protests or under any other circumstances.”
