Source: BBC

Policing minister Sarah Jones has promised legislation introducing stronger safeguards for live facial recognition in public spaces. Jones said the framework would define permitted purposes, including finding wanted criminals and missing people, and require proportionate, intelligence-led use. According to the Home Office, a new independent watchdog would scrutinise deployments and could, in extreme cases, pursue enforcement action to prevent police forces from using the technology. The Home Office also announced plans for a legal code of practice for police and a separate code for businesses using facial recognition to combat crime. Jones argued that specific legislation would replace inconsistent arrangements with clearer expectations across police forces and strengthen public confidence. Big Brother Watch’s senior legal and policy officer, Jasleen Chaggar, objected that scanning everyone passing a camera subjects people without grounds for suspicion to sensitive biometric identity checks.

The Metropolitan Police said officers check database matches before deciding whether to stop someone, while facial images producing no match are immediately deleted. The force attributed more than 3,000 arrests over two years to live facial recognition. Civil liberties and anti-racism groups raised concerns about potential inaccuracies affecting women and people of colour; the Met said the National Physical Laboratory had assessed its operation of the technology as accurate and fair. For its Notting Hill Carnival deployment, the Met reported more than 120 arrests; figures on the force’s website recorded over 270,000 faces scanned and one false alert. Sainsbury’s suspended facial recognition at an East Dulwich store after a customer was wrongly challenged as a shoplifter and asked to leave; the supermarket attributed the mistake to human error. The Met plans to extend fixed cameras to the West End and Soho following a Croydon pilot, while also testing handheld identification devices; Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes said police wanted legislation that supported responses to different crimes.