Facial recognition vans rolled out across England in crime crackdown
An additional seven police forces in England will be using ten new live facial recognition (LFR) vans to track suspects wanted for serious crimes, including sexual offences, violent assaults, and homicides.
The rollout, announced by the Home Office, will see Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and Hampshire police share the vehicles.
The technology, trialled in London and South Wales, compares facial measurements from passers-by to bespoke watchlists compiled for each deployment.
The Met Police says it has helped secure 580 arrests in the past year, including 52 sex offenders breaching release conditions.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said the approach will be “targeted” and supported by a new legal framework after public consultation.
Privacy fears and legal gaps
Civil liberties groups, including Big Brother Watch and Liberty, say the expansion risks creating “a total surveillance society” and should be halted until robust legislation is in place.
Amnesty International UK has warned the tech has a history of bias and misidentification, particularly affecting certain ethnicities.
Ministers insist the system is accurate and bias-free, citing independent testing by the National Physical Laboratory.
Each match will be checked by a trained officer, and data on non-suspects will be deleted immediately.
Ryan Wain, politics chief at the Tony Blair Institute, backed the rollout, calling LFR a “no-brainer” for catching violent criminals and rebuilding public trust in policing.
Back in May, an artificial intelligence (AI) search body criticised the UK government for accelerating the deployment of facial recognition technology without first establishing a comprehensive legal framework.
The Ada Lovelace Institute warned the increasing use of live facial recognition (LFR) by police and retailers across the UK is happening in a “legislative void”, raising urgent concerns about privacy, transparency and accountability.