Robert Dillon, a 52-year-old commercial crab fisherman from Fort Myers, and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a lawsuit against the city of Jacksonville Beach, two police officers, and two Florida sheriffs over his wrongful arrest. Dillon was arrested in 2024 for allegedly attempting to lure a child at a Jacksonville Beach McDonald's after an officer used facial recognition technology to link him to a suspect's image, despite Dillon never having visited the location. The legal complaint blames the arrest on the improper use of Florida's facial recognition system, a lack of officer training, and police policies that failed to mitigate the known risks of the technology. Operated by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, the database contains approximately 15 million images and is accessed by more than 200 law enforcement agencies, as well as federal organisations including the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Background: Facial Recognition in Policing

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