One of the UK’s major police forces has brought in facial recognition for the first time – to crack down on nuisance criminal behaviour like shoplifting. It comes after the Daily Express launched our ‘Stop The Shoplifters’ campaign this year to call for a bigger effort to stop serial crooks targeting the UK’s already hard-pressed shops and local businesses.
Now Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has started using two Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology vans, from the Home Office, in Sale town centre as the force tackles a shoplifting surge. The north west-based force has created a watchlist detailing persons of interests – with any potential match generating an alert. As well as identifying criminals, GMP said the technology will help “safeguard vulnerable people, and protect people from harm”, by freeing up officers to patrol their communities and respond to any emergencies. Assistant Chief Constable Rick Jackson said: “At GMP, we use traditional policing tools but also embrace new and developing technology.
“This is a really good example of police officers and technology working hand-in-hand and will bolster our Neighbourhood Policing operation.
“LFR can be used in a number of ways, including to prevent and detect crime, find wanted criminals, safeguard vulnerable people, and to protect people from harm.
“It will also free up officers to respond to emergencies, spend time patrolling within their communities and investigating crime.
“It is a precise and targeted tool, only identifying specific individuals who have been added to a bespoke watchlist and will significantly speed up the process of identifying people at risk or wanted by police.
“It’s important that we dispel any myths around LFR and to be open and transparent with members of the public – it is not a ‘mass surveillance’ tool and law-abiding members of the public have nothing to fear if they see one of our vans.
“We are committed to using it responsibly, transparently, and in full compliance with the law.”
‘Facial recognition’ is a form of technology where a computer scans a person’s face to identify them by measuring key features – such as the width of a nose, the distance between the eyes, and the shape of a person’s cheek bones.
They are then compared with the faces of persons of interest stored on police databases.
Aside from GMP, other forces currently using LFR include West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and Hampshire – it was first used in England and Wales in 2017 during the UEFA Champions League final in Cardiff.
GMP explained: “We are going to be using Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology to ensure the continued safety of our communities in Greater Manchester.
“The Home Office has supplied GMP with two LFR vans for use in areas where an operational need has been identified – not exclusively but areas with crime issues and large footfall, as well as music and sporting events.
“We are due to deploy the vans on 21 and 23 October in Sale town centre. The cameras will focus on a specific area or crowd and detect faces compared to a pre-prepared watchlist with an alert issued immediately if there is a match.”
The force explained that they will “delete the images with alerts immediately after using them or within 24 hours”, adding: “The images and biometric data of those who don’t cause an alert are automatically and immediately deleted.
“We record the CCTV footage that is used by the LFR technology, and we keep it for 31 days subject to any requirements under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (CPIA) and the Management of Police Information (MoPI).”
ACC Jackson added: “We have undertaken a robust process to ensure appropriate people wanted for criminal offences are contained in the lists we use for facial recognition
“There are strict criteria around the necessity and proportionality of the use of facial recognition before it can be deployed in the community.
“You will see the vans out and about on the streets of Greater Manchester and they can be used at big, live events like festivals, concerts and football matches.
“We encourage members of the public to come and view the vans when they are operational in the community to understand how they operate and speak to officers around the safeguards in place.
“If you do happen to walk past one of our cameras and you’re not a match, your biometric data is immediately deleted. There is no recording or rewind facility.
“LFR has been used with great success at other forces and we will draw on their experiences to make sure it is a success in Greater Manchester.”
Kate Green, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester for Safer and Stronger Communities, said: “Live Facial Recognition technology represents a significant step forward in our efforts to keep Greater Manchester safe.
“With the support of the Home Office, GMP is now equipped to use this precise and targeted tool to identify individuals wanted for serious offences, safeguard vulnerable people, and reduce anti-social behaviour in our communities.
“I welcome the robust ethical oversight and transparency measures in place, including publicising deployment schedules and ensuring biometric data is not stored.
“The Greater Manchester Independent Police Ethics Committee discussed this at length, taking in all considerations, so I am confident protective measures are in place.
“This is about responsible innovation—enhancing public safety while protecting civil liberties. I fully support GMP’s commitment to using LFR in a way that builds trust and confidence across Greater Manchester.”
But Rebecca Vincent, Interim Director of Big Brother Watch, said: “This unprecedented escalation in the use of facial recognition technology across the UK is alarming, and represents a significant expansion of the surveillance state.
“Live facial recognition turns every passerby into a walking barcode and treats us all as a nation of suspects. This move is not only worrying for our privacy rights, it is worrying for our democracy.
“The Home Office must scrap its plans to roll out further live facial recognition capacity until robust legislative safeguards are established.”
