Evansville police to add safeguards after officer’s ‘misuse’ of AI software

The Evansville Police Department in Evansville, Ind., announced it will be instituting additional safeguards surrounding its use of artificial intelligence software after one of its officers was found to be misusing the technology.

In a press conference held June 12, Evansville Chief of Police Phil Smith said that while the department was preparing to renew its contract with Clearview AI, an AI software that allows law enforcement to use facial recognition for investigations, they discovered an anomaly with one of its officer’s use of the tool. The audit, performed in March, found “a very high usage of the software by an officer whose work output was not indicative of the amount of inquiry searches that they had,” Smith said.

That officer was Michael Dockery, who, further investigation found, had used a case number associated with an actual incident to disguise his Clearview AI searches of people who had nothing to do with said incident, according to Smith. Those searches were conducted by Dockery between April 2023 and December 2023 and were a “misuse of technology,” according to the department.

Dockery, who had been with the department for five years, was placed on paid leave, followed by a 21-day unpaid suspension, and later resigned from his position.

Based on the nature of the searches with the AI software, most of them social media searches as opposed to the more typical CCTV image searches, Smith said it appeared Dockery was using the tool for “social purposes.”

“It’s not for personal use, and that’s what he did with it,” Smith said, adding that it was not a criminal matter, and that Dockery did not violate any Indiana statutes.

Part of the police department’s contract with Clearview AI already requires monitoring its own usage of the system, which the department had done, according to Smith. However, following the misuse, Smith said he plans to increase the department’s safeguards by instituting quarterly audits.

“What I’m going to impose that we do this quarterly to make sure that we’re doing it regularly to stay on top of it,” Smith said.

Smith confirmed that the department had renewed its contract with Clearview AI, which it began using last year after receiving funding for it from the city council.

The use of facial recognition technology in government has long been the subject of heated debates regarding privacy, racial targeting and government overreach.

 “Face surveillance is becoming an all- encompassing tool for government to track where we are, what we are doing, and who we are with, regardless of whether we’re suspected of a crime or not,” Karen Gullo, a representative for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told American City and County in 2020.

As the technology has improved and become more commonplace, others have also argued it has helped increase safety, security and fighting crime.

“[Clearview AI] has proven to be a very useful tool for our officers in terms of developing lead information for investigations,” Smith said during his press conference.

“I’m pleased with the way we handled the audit,” Smith added. “If you’re not looking to get better, you’re looking to stay the same.”