The crime-watching app Citizen falsely accused a man in California of starting a fire, offering a $30,000 reward for his identification before retracting its post the very next day, in a move condemned by criminal justice experts.
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The app — which gives users local crime information through police scanners and other sources — shared an alert on Saturday about an alleged arsonist behind a large fire that broke out in Los Angeles over the weekend.
The suspect, who is homeless, was arrested by authorities and briefly taken into custody. But authorities ultimately determined there was not enough evidence to link him to the crime, the Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed to the Guardian. A different suspect has since been arrested.
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But the thing is, the second arrest came after the name and photo of the man who was falsely accused was widely published. The notice posted by the Citizen app, which included a photo and was viewed by more than 861,000 people, said: “Citizen is offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the arson suspect.”.
The Citizen app told the Guardian that it offered the cash reward “without formal coordination with the relevant agencies.”.
“As soon as we became aware of this error, we immediately retracted the post with the photos and the reward,” he said. “We are actively working to improve our internal processes to ensure this does not happen again. This was a mistake that we take very seriously.”
Jim Braden, a sheriff who challenged the falsely accused person’s arrest, called Citizen’s actions “potentially devastating.” The falsely accused suspect’s photo remained on the Citizen app for more than 15 hours.
Apps like Citizen have been accused by privacy advocates of exacerbating existing prejudices. Experts say Monday's incident highlights the danger of false accusations going viral when justice is left in the hands of private companies.
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“A false accusation in this day and age is like a conviction,” said Sarah Esther Lageson, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice who studies technology and policing. “With their image and name online ,even if it’s the wrong person — that reputation is there forever.”
Esther Lageson adds that such a system encourages stereotypes, especially racial stereotypes, and increases fear within communities. “These apps allow the phone owner to identify who is suspicious and why, which is extremely dangerous,” she said.
Citizen launched in New York in 2017, initially under the name Vigilante. The app uses location data to feed users information about crimes in their area. It has since expanded to more than 20 cities including Baltimore, Los Angeles, Philadelphia , and Detroit.
Citizen users are encouraged to live-stream the aftermath of crimes and fires, if it's safe to do so. The app says it "empowers" users to "protect themselves and the people and places they care about.".
The Los Angeles Police Department has now arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with the fire. "We feel we have arrested the right person," the police chief said.
Source of information: theguardian.com
