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The roll-out of live facial recognition capability continues across England with West Yorkshire Police starting its first deployment in Leeds this week.
One of seven forces to receive vans from a Home Office-funded expansion of technology that is used by forces to locate people on watchlists, West Yorkshire Police says it will help identify individuals who are wanted by the courts, subject to arrest, or pose a risk to the public.
The technology works by scanning faces in real time and comparing them against an authorised watchlist of individuals of legitimate interest to the police. Faces that match the biometrics of someone on a watchlist will create an alert, while data relating to all other faces scanned by the system will be instantly deleted.
The force has two vans which have been fitted with NEC software and have been customised with West Yorkshire livery and live facial recognition signage. It was keen to point out that the deployment is “intelligence-led and proportionate”, and “will not be used for mass surveillance or indiscriminate monitoring.”
Other forces rolling out the technology include Bedfordshire, Thames Valley and Hampshire. Greater Manchester Police carried out its first deployments recently earlier this month and said that it had made two arrests and found a missing person after using the technology in the Piccadilly Gardens area of central Manchester.
In London, where live facial recognition technology has been used extensively over the past two years, the Met Police said that as a result of its use back in April it had identified a man wanted for a violent knife crime. The offender has just been convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Chief Inspector Daniel Tillett is leading the rollout of the technology in West Yorkshire. He said that it is a useful tool to assist officers in their day-to-day work and acknowledged that there are questions about privacy and civil liberties.
“That’s why we are committed to using LFR in a transparent, proportionate, and accountable way. The technology will only be used in specific circumstances where there is a clear policing purpose and need. It will always be accompanied by clear signage and oversight.”
West Yorkshire’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Alison Lowe OBE echoed this point adding, “we understand the risks and will continue to scrutinise the way police deploy this resource.”
Hear from South Wales Police LFR lead, Ben Gwyer and Ian Taylor who is overseeing the deployment in Bedfordshire as they join me and Aryana Tavanai for a webinar that will explore LFR and its role in public safety. Join us on 13 November at 1400. Register for free here.
