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As part of Operation Sceptre week, the Home Office announced a £4m investment in technology to help police forces fight knife crime, including increasing the number of live facial recognition units for the Met Police.
Most of the £4m pot will be devoted to research, development and evaluation of new technologies which can detect knives carried from a distance and hand-held or body-worn systems which can be operated by individual officers.
Operation Sceptre, the national week of intensification in the fight against knife crime, runs twice a year and is a chance to highlight the good work that is being done year-round to prevent and tackle knife crime.
In the capital, four vans will be refitted to become new mobile live facial recognition (LFR) units. Using just over £500k of new funding the LFR units will be used as part of the approach to hotspot policing.
“No technology can replace the presence of officers on our streets, but as criminals develop new strategies towards crime, so must we. New technologies are already revolutionising how we fight crime and we are going even further to give police the solutions they need to keep us safe.”
James Cleverly, Home Secretary.
LFR mobile units are used in busy areas to check individuals against a select list of persons who are wanted by the police or the courts. The use of LFR is governed by data protection, equality, and human rights laws. It can only be used for a policing purpose, where necessary, proportionate, and fair.