Metropolitan Police to Increase Use of Facial Recognition Technology

• The Metropolitan Police plans to increase the use of facial recognition technology to detect faces ten times a month.
• Crime on major streets has risen, prompting a recorded increase in business support.
• Lawyers are calling for regulation of the use of facial recognition technology.

The Metropolitan Police of Great Britain plans to increase the use of facial recognition technology to detect faces ten times a month. This decision is part of a restructuring triggered by the loss of 1400 officers and 300 staff due to budget cuts.

The use of live facial recognition technology will now occur ten times a month over a period of five days, which is an increase from four times a month over a period of two days. The technology will be applied at the Notting Hill festival in September.

Earlier this month, the police reported that it had already conducted 1000 arrests using live facial recognition technology, of which 773 resulted in charges or warnings. The head of the police, Sir Mark Rowley, stated that the technology is used primarily to search for serious offenders.

As part of the restructuring, some officers will be transferred to a unit that deals with crime in the field of public order, due to the increased number of protests in the last two years. The number of officers in this unit will increase from 48 to 63.

The technology of live facial recognition is facing criticism from human rights lawyers, who point to the absence of regulation governing its use. A representative of the Liberty organization, Charlie Welton, called for the creation of national legislation to protect people's rights.

In addition, the police intend to reassess 90 officers to district teams to combat crime on the streets, such as street thefts and antisocial behavior.

In recent years, crime on major commercial streets has increased, and thefts have reached a record in 2024, exceeding 500 thousand incidents. This has led to a recorded increase in business support, which calls for urgent actions to combat all forms of crime that affect trade.

Tags: Europe/Technology/AI/Crime