UK launches facial recognition vans to track dangerous criminals
Ten new mobile facial recognition units will soon be on the streets in England and Wales, scanning crowds to pinpoint suspects in serious crimes, the UK Home Office said Wednesday.
The vans—headed for Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and Hampshire—are part of a government push to bolster neighborhood policing and put 13,000 more officers into communities by 2029. The plan also promises dedicated anti-social behavior leads, consistent links to local police, and more visible patrols in town centers.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the technology would be used “in a targeted way to identify sex offenders or people wanted for the most serious crimes who the police have not been able to find.” She added: “That’s why we’re funding 10 vans and also drawing up a new legal framework, so we’ve got proper safeguards and checks in place so that we can use the technology to go after the most dangerous criminals.”
Live facial recognition (LFR) will be deployed only when there is specific intelligence, the Home Office said. Faces picked up by the cameras will be checked solely against police watchlists of wanted criminals, suspects and those under court orders—with each match reviewed by a trained officer before action is taken.
The vans use an algorithm independently tested by the National Physical Laboratory, which found “no bias for ethnicity, age or gender” at the settings police use. Authorities say the units will help track suspects in crimes including sexual assaults, violent attacks, homicides and organized crime.
Forces already using LFR point to tangible results. The Metropolitan Police said it made 580 arrests in a year with the technology, including 52 registered sex offenders caught breaching conditions. South Wales Police—among the first in the UK to adopt LFR—said it has not recorded a single false alert since August 2019.
“Our priority is to keep the public safe and this technology continues to help us achieve that,” said Chief Superintendent Tim Morgan of South Wales Police. “It is important to remember that use of this has never resulted in a wrongful arrest in South Wales and there have been no false alerts for several years as the technology and our understanding has evolved.”
Lindsey Chiswick, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for facial recognition, called the expanded rollout “an excellent opportunity for policing.” She stressed that every deployment would be “targeted, intelligence-led, within a set geographical location and for a defined period of time, ensuring deployments are proportionate, lawful and necessary.”
The Home Office will launch a public consultation this fall to gather views on the technology’s future use, necessary safeguards, and how to maintain transparency and public trust.