Treasure Coast Sheriffs Silent on AI Surveillance Tools as Lawsuit Targets Facial Recognition Abuse

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed against three Florida law enforcement agencies over a facial recognition-driven false arrest is prompting new scrutiny of artificial intelligence tools used by police — and raising an unasked question on the Treasure Coast: do local sheriffs use the same technology, and does anyone know about it?

Robert Dillon, a commercial crabber from Fort Myers, spent a night in jail in 2023 after an AI facial recognition system operated by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office returned a 93% match linking him to security camera footage from a McDonald's in Jacksonville Beach — a city Dillon's attorneys say he had never visited. The now-dropped charge alleged Dillon tried to lure a child at the restaurant, five hours from his home.

The ACLU of Florida filed a 66-page federal lawsuit Wednesday on Dillon's behalf against the Jacksonville Beach Police Department and the Jacksonville and Pinellas sheriff's offices, alleging violation of his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure and malicious prosecution.

"The night I spent in jail after they arrested me for a crime I did not commit still haunts me to this day," Dillon said in a news release accompanying the filing.

The complaint alleges the investigating officer treated the algorithm's output as near-certain identification, omitted exculpatory evidence from the warrant application, and never consulted McDonald's ordering records or cellphone data that could have immediately ruled Dillon out.

"This case is about what happens when police let an error-prone artificial intelligence system stand in for an investigation," the complaint states.

Steve Silverberg, counsel at Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney LLP and one of Dillon's attorneys, framed the stakes broadly.

"Robert's case illustrates the stakes when police deploy AI-assisted identification tools without adequate safeguards," Silverberg said. "Digital information can be a powerful tool for law enforcement, but its proliferation, supercharged by the AI boom, carries profound Fourth Amendment implications."

The Sentinel this week submitted public records requests to the Martin County Sheriff's Office, the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, and the Indian River County Sheriff's Office seeking any contracts with AI or biometric identification vendors, written use policies governing such tools, and any internal audits conducted on their accuracy or civil rights implications. None of the three agencies had responded by press time.

The silence itself is a data point. At least 20 jurisdictions nationwide have banned facial recognition for law enforcement use, according to the ACLU lawsuit, including Minneapolis and San Francisco. Florida has no statewide ban and no mandatory disclosure requirement for law enforcement AI contracts.

No one on the Treasure Coast has publicly asked whether local agencies use these systems. That gap is the story.

The ACLU's lawsuit notes that no law enforcement agency involved in Dillon's arrest has ever apologized or acknowledged the error. More than a year after his arrest, Dillon told reporters that community members still approach him in public to ask about the case.

"I will never get over how terrified and worried I was, wondering if I'd ever go home to my wife and daughter again," he said.

The Sentinel will continue pressing all three Treasure Coast agencies for records. A follow-up report will publish upon receipt of those documents or upon agency response.

This article was generated with AI assistance using publicly available information. It was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication. TC Sentinel uses AI writing tools in accordance with FTC guidelines.