Metropolitan Police trial facial recognition technology in central London for first time

Facial recognition software was trialed on Monday in central London for the first time amid soaring crime in the capital.

The Metropolitan Police deployed the technology in Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square looking for suspects wanted by the force or the courts.

The operation was conducted in a visible fashion with uniformed as well as plain-clothed police officers present and posters informing the public what was happening.

The Met said that anyone who declined to be scanned was not automatically “viewed as suspicious by police officers”.

Also any matches were not in themselves considered grounds to detain people and officers were instructed to make further checks before taking any action.

The Met Police said three arrests were made during the operation with one suspect identified by the technology wanted for a violent offence.

A second was flagged by the system but turned out to be a different individual when officers made checks, albeit one wanted for a separate offence.

The Met Police said the third arrest was unrelated to the facial recognition system and due to officers witnessing an incident during the operation.

Yesterday’s operation was one of a series stretching back to last year where police have trialed the technology in areas such as Stratford’s Westfield Shopping Centre and Notting Hill. The central London trial is set to take place again on Tuesday.

Ivan Balhatchet, the Met Police's strategic lead for live facial technology, said: “The Met is currently developing the use of live facial recognition technology and we have committed to ten trials during the coming months. We are now coming to the end of our trials when a full evaluation will be completed.

"We continue to engage with many different stakeholders, some who actively challenge our use of this technology. In order to show transparency and continue constructive debate, we have invited individuals and groups with varying views on our use of facial recognition technology to this deployment.”

The Met Police’s latest operation comes after a civil liberties group, Big Brother Watch, criticised the use of facial recognition software as “authoritarian, dangerous and lawless.”

The group also said that previous police trials had shown the software had misidentified innocent members of the public.

Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said:  “As with all mass surveillance tools, it is the general public who suffer more than criminals.

“It is well overdue that police drop this dangerous and lawless technology.”