Met Police officers will trial handheld facial recognition devices on Londoners for the first time, the Mayor of London has revealed.
By Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter
Met Police officers will trial handheld facial recognition devices on Londoners for the first time, the Mayor of London has revealed.
Staff will be equpped with Operator-Initiated Facial Recognition (OIFR) technology capable of scanning and identifying people on the spot for a six-month trial period involving 100 devices.
In response to questions from Green Party London Assembly Member Zoë Garbett in City Hall yesterday (Thursday February 26), Sir Sadiq Khan said the pilot would “give the Met an opportunity to test and evaluate the capability.”
He said the “advantage” of the devices was to ensure officers can check and verify the details of any individuals stopped instead of having to arrest them and take them to a police station.
The Mayor pledged that both the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the London Policing Ethics Panel will oversee the use of OIFR technology to ensure it’s use is “right and proportionate” and that Londoners have “confidence” and “transparency” if it is rolled out.
Sir Sadiq said it “may not be rolled out” if the results aren’t as beneficial to the force as expected, however.
Around £763,000 has been allocated to the programme.
The Met’s increasing use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology as a whole has sparked concern from civil liberties campaigners and some London Assembly Members.
Earlier this month Ms Garbett called on the the Met to immediately halt all LFR use until proper safeguards and regulations are in place.
In response to the OIFR revelations, she said: “Londoners deserve transparency when it comes to such a fundamental expansion of police powers.
“What’s even more concerning is the Met’s website explicitly says they do not use this technology.
“We already have no clear legal framework for LFR and now it’s being further expanded with handheld devices that allow officers to walk up and scan people’s faces.
“In Britain, no one has to identify themselves to police without very good reason and this unregulated technology threatens that fundamental right.
“The rapid and unchecked deployment of this technology must stop and robust protections must be put in place to safeguard our rights.”
Jasleen Chaggar, Legal and Policy Officer at Big Brother Watch, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “The Met’s decision to pilot OIFR without even having a policy in place is yet another dangerous expansion of this intrusive software that treats the public like guinea pigs on which to test the police’s surveillance tech.
“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. When linked to certain databases, these systems can turn our faces into keys that unlock a vast array of personal records.
“We’ve seen how ICE agents are using OIFR in the US to target communities of colour – we should not allow the streets of Britain to be turned into a constant digital police line-up.
“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.”
Lindsey Chiswick, the Met’s lead for facial recognition, told the LDRS: “We are set to trial operator‑initiated facial recognition, an innovative tool which will help our officers take photos to help confirm the identities of people quickly and accurately, avoiding the need to detain people for longer than needed.
“This will initially be rolled out to a small number of officers while we test the technology. If an individual has their photo taken and there is no match, then their biometric information will be deleted straight away.”
