Dayton police use facial recognition technology to identify assault suspect
Apr. 29—The Dayton Police Department says facial recognition technology helped identify a suspect in a violent assault that happened earlier this year.
Dayton police Chief Kamran Afzal said the suspect likely would have evaded arrest without use of the technology, as other investigative leads had been exhausted.
The Dayton Police Department does not have facial recognition technology, and the city has an ordinance that requires the agency to notify and gather input from the public before acquiring or deploying new surveillance technology.
But the city ordinance allows police to temporarily use unapproved technologies if there are exigent circumstances, and Chief Afzal said this situation warranted such action.
"Given the severe nature of this incident, the potentially life-threatening injuries sustained by the victim and the lack of existing leads, Major Brian Johns contacted me about using facial recognition software to generate investigative leads," the chief said. "In this case, I concurred with using facial recognition software and granted permission due to the exigent circumstances."
On Feb. 26, Dayton police responded to a UDF gas station in the 1900 block of East Siebenthaler Ave., at North Dixie Drive on a report of an assault in progress, a police report states.
Officers reviewed surveillance video of the incident and saw that a woman was brutally assaulted by a male suspect after he parked at a gas pump, police said.
The man punched and choked the woman, who looked like she was knocked unconscious, and he then pulled her into his vehicle before fleeing the scene, says a memo from Chief Afzal to the city manager explaining the exigent circumstances for use of facial recognition technology.
Detectives feared the woman was seriously injured or possibly killed but they were unable to identify the suspect or the victim and they could not make out the vehicle's license plate after reviewing surveillance video, Afzal's memo states.
The chief says he authorized police Major Brian Johns to use facial recognition to try to help with the investigation.
Images and videos were shared with a state law enforcement partner on Feb. 29 who did an analysis with a facial recognition application that uses open-source information, Afzal's memo states.
The state agency generated an investigative lead, and a suspect was located in Lima. The victim was found alive in Indiana.
Lima police arrested the 59-year-old male suspect, who allegedly was found with narcotics, according to a police report.
The Montgomery County Prosecutor's office reviewed the gas station incident with the Dayton Police Department and they agreed that more investigation was needed before criminal charges could be approved, a spokesperson said.
The Dayton Police Department says it does not plan to utilize facial recognition technology in the future.
But the department says it may consider using it if there's a similar situation involving potentially life-threatening injuries and all other investigative leads come up empty.
