Share
The UK government is set to significantly expand the use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology by rolling out 10 new mobile LFR vans to seven police forces across England.
The Home Office states that the move is part of its wider policing strategy and will equip officers with “targeted, cutting-edge technology to catch high-harm offenders.”
The new vans will be deployed in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley, and Hampshire. According to the Home Office, the technology will be used specifically to locate and arrest individuals wanted for serious crimes, including homicide, sexual offences, violent assaults, and serious organized crime.
Forces that have already been using LFR, such as the Metropolitan Police, have reported considerable success. The Met, for example, made 580 arrests in 12 months using the technology for a range of offences, including rape and robbery.
Despite the government’s focus on its effectiveness, the expansion has been met with strong criticism from privacy and civil liberty groups. Organizations including Big Brother Watch have described the move as an “alarming” and “significant expansion of the surveillance state.”
They, along with human rights advocates, have raised concerns about the lack of a robust legal framework governing the technology’s use, the potential for false matches, and the chilling effect it could have on public freedom of assembly.
In response to these concerns, the government has announced that it will hold a public consultation to shape a new legal framework for LFR use. The Home Office also emphasized that strict safeguards will be in place, stating that the vans will only be deployed based on specific intelligence.
The Home Office also claims the technology will only scan faces against a bespoke watchlist of wanted criminals and those with court orders.
Furthermore, it says, the facial recognition algorithm has been independently tested and found to have no bias for ethnicity, age, or gender. A trained officer will also verify each match identified by the technology.
Related Posts
Discover more from Tech Digest
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.