“God this is nuts.” Florida police wrongfully arrest man using 93% AI facial recognition match.

Police in Florida wrongfully arrested Robert Dillon based on a 93% facial recognition match, charging him with attempting to lure a 12-year-old child despite his complete innocence. The case highlights growing concerns about AI-powered policing tools that lack constitutional probable cause standards and enable law enforcement agencies to avoid accountability through jurisdictional buck-passing.

What happened: The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Beach Police Department used facial recognition software to identify Dillon as a suspect in a November 2023 child luring case, leading to his arrest in August 2024.

• AI software flagged Dillon as a “93 percent match” to surveillance footage of the actual suspect.
• Two witnesses subsequently identified Dillon in a photo lineup, prompting his arrest nine months after the alleged crime.
• Dillon maintained his innocence, telling officers “I haven’t been out of Fort Myers in two years” — Jacksonville Beach is a five-hour drive from his Lee County home.

The bigger problem: Dillon’s case represents a growing trend of wrongful arrests driven by unreliable AI technology that constitutional experts say cannot provide probable cause.

• “Police are not allowed under the Constitution to arrest somebody without probable cause,” said Nate Freed-Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.
• “And this technology expressly cannot provide probable cause, it is so glitchy, it’s so unreliable. At best, it has to be viewed as an extremely unreliable lead because it often, often gets it wrong.”
• Local police departments are increasingly relying on AI systems that cross-reference driver registration data, surveillance footage, and social media with notorious unreliability.

Passing the buck: The three law enforcement agencies involved each deflected responsibility for the wrongful arrest to avoid accountability.

• Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters told reporters: “If you came to me with a facial recognition hit and that was your probable cause, I would probably kick you out of my office because that’s not how it works.”
• The arresting Lee County officers told Dillon: “I don’t know what to tell you, G. This isn’t our investigation, it’s all Jacksonville.”
• Jacksonville Beach Police Department stated: “We will not be commenting on this matter beyond stating that all warrant requests are submitted to the State Attorney’s Office.”

What they’re saying: Body camera footage captured Dillon’s shock and distress during his arrest.

• “This is f**king nuts. God this is nuts,” Dillon said as officers placed him in the squad car.
• His wife was also audibly disturbed by the accusation in the footage.

What’s next: Dillon is pursuing legal damages for his wrongful arrest, which could result in significant costs for Jacksonville taxpayers based on similar lawsuit outcomes.