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26 results for facial recognition
Technologies
- Technology Live Facial Recognition Real-time scanning of every passing face against a police watchlist, operating at scale in the UK on force policy rather than statute, upheld by the High Court in April 2026 and now expanding to 50 vans.
- Technology Facewatch facial recognition Live facial recognition operated by shops rather than police, matching customers against retailer-compiled watchlists, and the clearest documented case of the human review safeguard failing alongside the algorithm.
- Technology Operator-Initiated Facial Recognition (handheld) Operator-initiated facial recognition: an officer photographs a person in front of them on a handheld device and checks the image against a police database, the fastest-spreading UK facial recognition mode and the least debated.
- Technology Retrospective Facial Recognition (PND search) Retrospective searching of the Police National Database's custody image collection, running over 25,000 searches a month against more than 19 million images, with a regulator-confirmed bias finding and a replacement algorithm planned.
- Technology Clearview AI facial recognition Facial recognition matching against a database of tens of billions of images scraped from the public internet without consent, sold to police and intelligence agencies, and found unlawful by regulators across Europe.
- Technology Moscow facial recognition CCTV network Moscow's city-wide facial recognition camera network, among the largest live identification systems anywhere, and documented as used to identify people attending political protests.
- Technology AI Facial Recognition Body-Worn Cameras Facial recognition running on an officer's body-worn camera, turning a recording device into a live identification system — proposed and trialled rather than widely deployed, and resisted by at least one major supplier.
- Technology Private Live Facial Recognition Networks Facial recognition operated by businesses and community organisations rather than police, creating watchlists and exclusions outside any statutory framework, and increasingly feeding information to forces.
Deployments
- Deployment British Transport Police — Live Facial Recognition NEC (NeoFace M40)
- Deployment Metropolitan Police (and other forces) — Operator-Initiated Facial Recognition (handheld) Home Office-supported deployment
- Deployment Metropolitan Police — Live Facial Recognition NEC (NeoFace)
- Deployment South Wales Police — Live Facial Recognition NEC (NeoFace)
- Deployment Multiple retailers (private) — Facewatch facial recognition Facewatch
- Deployment Home Office / multiple forces — Retrospective Facial Recognition (PND search) Cognitec (FaceVACS-DBScan ID), among others
- Deployment ~3,100 US police departments (company estimate) — Clearview AI facial recognition Clearview AI
- Deployment Royal Canadian Mounted Police (National Child Exploitation Crime Centre) — Clearview AI facial recognition Clearview AI
Topics
- Topic Facial Recognition in Policing Facial recognition is the most contested policing technology in use today. Live deployments scan faces in a crowd against a watchlist in real time, while retrospective systems matc
- Topic Protest and Public Order Policing Facial recognition, drones and crowd analytics are increasingly used at large public gatherings and demonstrations, both for public order and safety planning and for identifying in
Coverage
- Story How could facial recognition technology differ from CCTV? Supermarkets could soon use facial recognition technology to monitor customers, raising privacy concerns. Unlike standard security cameras, the system scans distinct facial feature
- Story ICO says police use of facial recognition needs urgent attention
- Story Police to use facial recognition cameras for Notting Hill Carnival after record-breaking arrests
- Story Police to deploy borrowed facial recognition van Suffolk Police is borrowing facial recognition technology from Surrey. The force will use the system across three town centres.
- Story UK police widen live facial recognition deployments despite opposition Police across the UK are expanding their use of live facial recognition technology following recent operations in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. Officers report that the de
- Story Calls for police to use facial recognition to combat football violence One of Scotland's most senior police officers has called for the introduction of new technology as part of several new measures. The officer warned that recent incidents had been "
- Story EFF and Civil Society Groups Call on Nottinghamshire Police to Halt Live Face Recognition A coalition of civil liberties groups has written to Nottinghamshire Police to raise concerns about the proposed roll-out of live facial recognition technology. The Electronic Fron
- Story Telegraph – Sadiq Khan is joyfully expanding our surveillance state Sir Sadiq Khan is introducing live facial recognition cameras to Oxford Street and deploying them on the London Underground. The rollout comes despite a trial on the rail network t