UK expands use of 'Live Facial Recognition' vans to catch serious criminals

London | A greater number of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) vans will begin circulating around town and city centres around the UK to locate suspects of serious crimes, the British government announced on Wednesday.

As part of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, the Home Office said every neighbourhood across England and Wales has been deployed with named, contactable officers to tackle crimes.

In addition to this bolstering of police presence, it has also rolled out 10 new LFR vans to seven police forces across the country to equip officers with “targeted, cutting-edge technology to catch high-harm criminals”.

“No one should feel unsafe leaving their homes. From today, every neighbourhood across England and Wales has named, contactable officers to tackle crime in our communities,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said 3,000 new neighbourhood officers will be in place at the heart of communities within the next year to tackle off-road bikes, shop theft, street theft, among other crimes.

“And we will provide police with the tools they need to do their jobs. Facial recognition will be used in a targeted way to identify sex offenders or people wanted for the most serious crimes who the police have not been able to find,” said Cooper.

“That’s why we’re funding 10 vans and also drawing up a new legal framework, so we’ve got proper safeguards and checks in place so that we can use the technology to go after the most dangerous criminals,” she said.

The vans will operate according to strict rules to ensure they are only deployed when there is specific intelligence, based on the College of Policing guidance.

The vehicles are designed to enable law enforcement to target and locate wanted criminals and suspects for the most serious crimes such as sex offences, violent assaults, homicide and gang violence.

According to the Home Office, forces already using LFR have been able to arrest rape, domestic abuse, knife crime and robbery suspects as well as sex offenders breaching their court orders.

The technology has also been used to maintain safety at big public events, such as festivals and concerts.

“Existing safeguards require checks only to be done against police watchlists of wanted criminals, suspects and those subject to bail or court order conditions like sex offenders,” the Home Office said.

Every van is manned by trained officers who check matches made by the technology.

The Home Office said the facial recognition algorithm used in the new vans has been independently tested for bias by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), which found that the algorithm is accurate and there is “no bias for ethnicity, age or gender at the settings used by the police”.

The 10 new LFR units will be deployed to police forces in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, and jointly to Surrey and Sussex and Thames Valley and Hampshire.

Meanwhile, the government has simultaneously launched a public consultation on how the technology should be used and what appropriate safeguards and oversight are needed to ensure transparency and public confidence – to shape a new legal framework for its use.

“The police have a duty to prevent crime and keep the public safe. Live Facial Recognition supports effective policing, enabling officers to locate suspects quickly and accurately,” said Lindsey Chiswick, NPCC lead for facial recognition.

The rollout forms part of the UK government’s “Safer Streets Mission”, aimed at increased patrols and enforcement in over 500 town centres nationwide.