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Essex Police will use its own live facial recognition technology at a popular local event this week after a trial using borrowed kit from South Wales last October proved successful for the force.
Assistant Chief Constable Andy Pritchard said the deployment of live facial recognition (LFR) technology at the Clacton Air Show on 22 and 23 August is a “really exciting moment” for the force.
“Our Live Facial Recognition technology will be used to locate people we want to speak to in connection with ongoing investigations and to manage people with court orders or conditions.
“Criminals cannot think they can walk around our communities without being caught and our successful trial last year showed LFR is an effective way of locating people.”
Referring to the trial of the technology borrowed from South Wales Police, the force said that in just two days it resulted in five positive alerts and three arrests, including for rape and robbery.
Investing in LFR, with funding from the Police, Fire, and Crime Commissioner for Essex, the force says it is keen to talk to visitors to the show to share how it works and listen to any concerns they may have. Telling the public in advance that LFR will be in use is part of the strategy for its deployment in the county.
ACC Pritchard sought to reassure the public that the technology is an investment in the safety of the community, emphasising its efficiency, leaving officers “to focus on additional force priorities to protect and help the public, and further investigations.” He added, “we take people’s privacy really seriously.”
The force already uses retrospective facial recognition technology to scan faces against a database of ‘people of interest.’ He explained, “between May and June we used this technology to help identify almost 80 suspects this way and it really helps move investigations forward.”
Read about how Bedfordshire Police used LFR at a local festival in July and how Northamptonshire Police used LFR at the Grand Prix in June.