The Fargo Police Department’s use of facial recognition technology is currently under review in light of the Angela Lipps case.
During the review, the police department has issued a temporary directive in regards to its use. The directive has five requirements; the technology may only be used by members of the criminal investigation division; cases will be reviewed and approved by unit commanders before the technology will be used to help identify suspects; the department may only use bona fide state or federal entities to perform the search; they may not use any other individual agency or department’s AI facial recognition system; and all facial recognition submissions will be tracked by the unit commander.
Outgoing Police Chief Dave Zibolski says the investigation did contain errors and work is being done to address and correct them. He says Lipps was identified initially by West Fargo Police, who had purchased their own AI facial recognition system. Zibolski says Fargo PD detectives assumed authorities in West Fargo had submitted surveillance photos to the state’s state run system, but they had not.
"I think there was steps we overlooked. It still went to the state's attorney's office and was reviewed, but I think this was a big training issue from that perspective, because there could have been other steps that, if it was reviewed under this new process, a supervisor or unit commander could say, maybe let's try A, B or C - before we take it over to the state's attorney's office. I think that's one of the points we recognize."
Zibolski’s last day at the Fargo Police Department is Friday.
Angela Lipps, who lives in Tennessee, was identified through AI facial recognition technology as being part of a large bank fraud investigation in Fargo last summer. Lipps says she has never been to Fargo or North Dakota, and claims she was wrongly accused in the case after spending months in jail in Tennessee and Cass County, North Dakota. Her court appointed public defender used her bank records as grounds to drop the charges. Once they were dropped, Lipps was released from the Cass County Jail on December 24 of last year.
