8/8/01 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) A construction worker whose picture was caught by a surveillance camera was questioned by police after an Oklahoma woman saw his picture and claimed he was her ex-husband and was wanted on felony child neglect charges. Problem is, Rob Milliron has never been married, doesnšt have any children and has never been to Oklahoma.
Millironšs photograph was captured by the face-recognizing FaceIt program in June while he was on a lunch break in Ybor City. The computer program allows police to scan faces in crowds looking for wanted criminals. The computer matches the electronic imaging against a database of 30,000 mug shots of felons, sexual predators and runaways. There are 36 cameras set up in Ybor City, the center of Tampašs night life.
Milliron didnšt know it at the time, but the police department used his photo to demonstrate the system to local news media. His photo ran in the St. Petersburg Times June 30. A caption under the photo read, "The man in this image was not identified as wanted." The Times later sold the photo to U.S. News and World Report. Beneath his photo in the magazine, a headline read, "You Canšt Hide Those Lying Eyes in Tampa." "It made me out to be a criminal," Milliron said.
A woman in Tulsa saw his picture in the magazine and called Tampa police. She said the man in the photo was her ex-husband and was wanted by police on charges of child neglect. Milliron, 32, was questioned by three police officers at his job site Monday. After they determined he wasnšt the man the Oklahoma woman called about, they let him go home. "He was absolutely horrified," said Millironšs girlfriend, Cheryl Toole.
The FaceIt program has drawn national criticism as an unlawful invasion of privacy. The ACLU and House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, opposed Tampašs use of the software. But Tampa Mayor Dick Greco has said the cameras will remain in place.
Milliron, who says he plans to hire an attorney, said he hopes the software system will be removed. "I donšt think itšs right," he said. "They made me feel like a criminal."
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[posted 8/10/01]
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