Police now have 19 million people’s faces stored in facial recognition database

Police have stored 19 million photographs – covering nearly a third of Britain’s population – which could be used for facial recognition.

The images could be used to identify people seen in CCTV images – and includes many people who have not committed a crime.

The figures come from a report, on the Retention and Use of Biometric Material, by Paul Wiles, the biometrics commissioner.

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Wiles says that the technology is now used actively by the police – for instance at the Notting Hill carnival, where police checked video footage for the faces of known criminals.

Wiles says, ‘Images stored on the Police National Database and other force systems have been used to try and identify individuals in public places.

‘A recent reported example of this was the Metropolitan Police’s use of facial imaging to check those attending the Notting Hill Carnival against a force watch list.’