Controversial facial recognition technology being used on Christmas shoppers in central London

A van parked in central London as part of a trial of new facial recognition technology
MPS Westminster
Charlotte Maher17 December 2018

Christmas shoppers could have their faces scanned in central London in a trial run of controversial new identification technology.

Scotland Yard is testing their new Live Facial Recognition cameras in Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square on Monday and Tuesday.

The cameras pick out faces from crowds and cross reference them with a database of individuals on a police “watch list”.

Officers then compare the camera image with the watch list image and make a decision as to whether to stop and speak to the individual.

The watch list contains people who have been taken into police custody before.

Police said the trials are well publicised with posters and claimed “anyone who declines to be scanned will not be viewed as suspicious by police officers".

But Liberty human rights organisation spoke out against the trials and said officers on the ground are treating anyone who avoids the cameras as suspicious.

The campaign group also took a photo of the van used by police today for the trials and tweeted it criticising the lack of advertisement by the Met that the public were being watched.

Hannah Couchman, Policy and Campaigns Officer at Liberty told the Standard: “The police have tried to suggest the rollout of this invasive technology is an open and transparent trial. We have witnessed the opposite.

“The use of unmarked vans and false assertions in the limited public statements available shows the police have no intention of gaining the public’s consent to roll out this mass surveillance technology that undermines our rights to privacy and freedom of association. It has no place on our streets.”

Another campaign group Big Brother Watch claimed that of the Met’s trials since May, 98 per cent of the matches made were inaccurate and named an innocent member of the public as a suspect.

The success of the cameras will be analysed at the end of the year to determine whether the technology will help officers tackle crime in London.

The Met insists the system will only keep recordings of the faces that match wanted suspects.

Police said one man was arrested after being positively identified by the flagging system.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said:"While anyone who declines to be scanned is not necessarily viewed as suspicious, police officers are nonetheless required to use their judgment in identifying potentially suspicious behaviour."