London’s Metropolitan Police (the Met) has arrested more than 1,000 wanted criminals since the start of 2024 through the deployment of live facial recognition (LFR) technologies.
The police force said it had apprehended “paedophiles, rapists and violent robbers” who may have escaped justice without the use of LFR. The cameras capture live footage of people passing by and compare their faces against a bespoke watchlist of wanted offenders; if a match is detected, the system generates an alert. An officer then reviews the match and decides if they wish to speak with the person.
The Met is one of the UK’s largest adopters of LFR tech, along with South Wales Police. Lindsey Chiswick, who leads the use of LFR nationally, said it would be “madness” not to deploy it at a time when local funds are tight.
It is increasingly being adopted in other settings around the UK, such as at airport border controls and on high streets to prevent shoplifting. However, it has its detractors, including privacy...