Peter A Clarke

The Times reports that the first permanent facial recognition cameras have been installed in London.  It is a being touted as a pilot project but it may be precursor to the scheme being extended across London.  The Information Commissioner’s Office has released guidance on the use of the facial recognition, described as Biometric recognition.  It has also issued specific guidance for Live Facial Recognition Technology for police. There has been significant cases of misuse of facial recognition technology and its privacy implications. The misuse of facial recognition by police is well documented.  And it is misused by the private sector. In February 2024 the ICO ordered Serco Leisure to stop using facial recognition to monitor employee attendance.   The use of CCTV technology and facial recognition technology is more extensive in the United Kingdom than in Australia.  That said, the regulator is quite active in reviewing its operation and the legislation is more rigorous than in Australia. 

It is likely that the use of the facial recognition technology will quickly become more widespread, especially with the use of AI.  Doing so without propely adhering to the provision of the Privacy Act 1988 may attract the attention of the regulator.  On 19 November the Privacy Commissioner published a determination finding Bunnings use of facial recognition breached the Privacy Act.  On the same day the Privacy Commissioner published a guidance on the use of facial recognition technology. It is critical that organisations contemplating using this technology understand their obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.

The Times article provides:

Facial recognition cameras that scan for wanted criminals are being installed permanently on UK high streets for the first time.

The Metropolitan Police will permanently put up live facial recognition (LFR) cameras in Croydon, south London, as part of a pilot project that may see the scheme extended across the capital.

The cameras, set to go live in June or July, will monitor the faces of people on the high street and match their image to a database of alleged criminals, including rapists, burglars and robbers.

It marks the progression of a successful programme the force has been running for the past two years, which involved deploying vans equipped with LFR cameras and resulted in hundreds of arrests.

However, privacy campaigners described the move as a “steady slide into a dystopian nightmare”. The new cameras will be positioned on existing lampposts or attached to buildings and will only operate when officers are nearby and ready to respond to database matches.

Mitch Carr, the Met’s neighbourhood policing superintendent for south London, wrote to local community figures earlier this month announcing the move: “I am currently working with the central team to install fixed LFR cameras in Croydon town centre. This will mean our use of LFR technology will be far more embedded as a ‘business as usual’ approach rather than relying on the availability of the LFR vans that are in high demand across London.

“It will remain the case that the cameras are only switched on when officers are deployed on the ground ready to respond to alerts. The end result will see cameras covering a defined area and will give us much more flexibility around the days and times we can run the operations.”

He said the cameras will be located at two sites — North End and London Road — and announced a series of “community engagement events” to outline the plans.

The system scans the faces of people as they walk past, immediately assessing them against a wanted list and alerting officers if there is a match. The data is immediately deleted if there is no match. It has been accredited by the National Physical Laboratory and does not exhibit the same racial bias as found in other forms of facial recognition, the Met has previously said.

Rebecca Vincent, interim director of the privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “We are alarmed by reports that Croydon police are installing an unprecedented permanent network of fixed live facial recognition cameras across Croydon town centre, which marks a worrying escalation in the use of LFR with no oversight or legislative basis.

“It’s time to stop this steady slide into a dystopian nightmare and halt all use of LFR technology across the UK until legislative safeguards are introduced.”

Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South and shadow home secretary, said: “Using fixed cameras is the logical next step in the roll-out of this technology, which will ensure even more wanted criminals get caught. This technology will mean wanted criminals are unable to wander round town and city centres without getting caught.

“Over the past year the mobile vans have caught around 200 wanted criminals in Croydon including at least two rapists who would not otherwise have been caught. Those few people opposing this technology need to explain why they don’t want those wanted criminals to be arrested.

“There are no legitimate privacy concerns given that the images of those people not on the wanted list are immediately and automatically deleted. This technology has the potential to revolutionise crime fighting in the same way that fingerprints and DNA have in the past.

“I would strongly support this initiative in Croydon and more widely as well.”

A Met spokesman said: “The Met is committed to making London safer, using data and technology to identify offenders that pose a risk to our communities.

“Last year we made over 500 arrests using LFR, removing dangerous individuals who were suspected of serious offences, including strangulation, stalking, domestic abuse and rape.

“We continue to engage with our communities to build understanding about how this technology works, providing reassurances that there are rigorous checks and balances in place to protect people’s rights and privacy.