Police to trial handheld facial recognition devices

The Metropolitan Police will trial handheld facial recognition devices, capable of scanning and identifying people on the spot, the mayor of London has revealed.

Officers will be equipped with Operator-Initiated Facial Recognition (OIFR) technology for a six-month pilot involving 100 devices.

Sir Sadiq Khan said the new technology would allow officers to check and verify the details of any individuals stopped, instead of having to arrest them and take them to a police station.

The Met's increasing use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology has sparked concern from campaigners and some London Assembly members, who say it is largely unregulated and a "disaster for civil liberties".

The mayor said the pilot would "give the Met an opportunity to test and evaluate the capability" of OIFR devices.

He also pledged that both the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime and the London Policing Ethics Panel would oversee the use of the technology, ensuring its use was "right and proportionate".

The technology "may not be rolled out" if the results of the programme, which has cost about £763,000, are not as beneficial to the force as expected, Sir Sadiq added.

Jasleen Chaggar, legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) there was no policy in place for the OIFR and that the police were using the public like "guinea pigs" to test their surveillance technology.

"Placing a tool in the hand of officers which can lift the veil of anonymity in public in a matter of seconds by simply pointing a phone at a face is a disaster for civil liberties," she said, adding that the technology could be used to "unlock a vast array of personal records".

She added: "The Met has a history of rolling out facial recognition so-called 'pilots' that quietly become permanent fixtures - they must immediately halt OIFR trials until the Home Office bring forward clear laws that strictly limit and safeguard against its everyday use."

Green Party councillor Zoë Garbett echoed these concerns, calling on the Met to immediately halt all LFR use until proper safeguards and regulations were in place.

Pointing out the absence of a "clear legal framework" around the use of LFR, Garbett added: "In Britain, no-one has to identify themselves to police without very good reason and this unregulated technology threatens that fundamental right."

Lindsey Chiswick, the Met's lead for facial recognition, told the LDRS the new technology would help officers confirm the identities of people quickly and accurately, "avoiding the need to detain people for longer than needed".

She added: "If an individual has their photo taken and there is no match, then their biometric information will be deleted straight away."

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