The Metropolitan Police has confirmed its first permanent installation of live facial recognition (LFR) cameras is coming this summer, with Croydon in South London selected as the location. Two cameras will be installed in the town centre, attached to buildings and lampposts on North End and London Road, in an effort to combat crime.
According to the police, the cameras will only be activated when officers are present and in a position to apprehend any identified criminals. This installation follows a two-year trial in the area, during which police vans equipped with LFR technology patrolled the streets, matching passersby against a database of suspects and criminals, resulting in hundreds of arrests.
The Met claims the system can provide alerts within seconds if a wanted individual is detected, and that images of those cleared are promptly deleted.
Mitch Carr, the police force’s neighbourhood policing superintendent, told local leaders, as reported by the Times: “I am currently working with the central team to install fixed LFR cameras in Croydon town centre. This will mean our use of LFR technology will be far more embedded as a ‘business as usual’ approach rather than relying on the availability of the LFR vans that are in high demand across London. The end result will see cameras covering a defined area and will give us much more flexibility around the days and times we can run the operations.”
The Met’s own figures for LFR using van deployments in London indicate an error rate of less than 1 percent in identifying suspects, with approximately 16,000 suspects on their watchlist. However, the efficacy of fixed cameras remains uncertain, as criminals may be aware of their locations and take measures to avoid detection or conceal their faces. Privacy groups have voiced strong opposition to the scheme.
Writing in London morning paper City AM, Rebecca Vincent, interim director at Big Brother Watch, stated: “The move represents an alarming expansion of the surveillance state, and a further slide towards a dystopian nightmare that could quickly take hold across the UK. It also underscores the urgent need for legislative safeguards on LFR, which to date has not been addressed in any parliamentary legislation. Police forces have been left to write their own policies on how they plan to use LFR, and can choose how and when to employ it. For its part, the Met’s ‘LFR watchlist’ expands beyond those suspected of criminal activity, including vulnerable persons and even victims of crimes.”
The current Labour administration has shown keen interest in the technology, launching a £20 million competition for companies to supply LFR tech to the police. However, the legality of the system has been questioned, with a House of Lords committee expressing “deep concern” about the use of unregulated technology.
In contrast, Croydon South’s Conservative MP, Chris Philp, has expressed support for the new hardware: “Using fixed cameras is the logical next step in the rollout of this technology, which will ensure even more wanted criminals get caught. Over the past year the mobile vans have caught around 200 wanted criminals in Croydon including at least two rapists who would not otherwise have been caught. Those few people opposing this technology need to explain why they don’t want those wanted criminals to be arrested.”
Image source: Pixabay
