Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology will be deployed in Luton for the first time tomorrow (Friday 19 September) after a its roll out elsewhere in Bedfordshire.
Pioneered by The Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police, the expansion of LFR was announced by the Home Office last month, with Bedfordshire Police announced as one of seven forces to receive the innovative technology.
Used by specially trained officers, the force said the technology will give officers an “unmatched advantage” in their bid to locate and apprehend high-harm offenders who have evaded the police or courts.
Used in Bedford town centre for the first time last week, the technology scanned 26,560 faces were and resulted in one man being arrested on suspicion of failing to appear at court for alleged fraud offences. Tomorrow, the LFR cameras will be in operation in Luton town centre.
Speaking prior to that rollout, LFR Strategic Lead Superintendent Ian Taylor, said: “We know that the community still have a lot of questions about the use of advanced technology within policing and officers will be on hand to engage with the community and answer any queries they may have.
“LFR supports policing with an unmatched advantage to identify and detain wanted individuals, ensuring criminals are brought to justice swiftly and the communities of Bedfordshire are protected from crime and harm.
“While this capability is new to Bedfordshire, it has been used across policing and security services for a number of years. Adopting LFR at this stage provides an added layer of assurance as we have seen the technology improve greatly, even outperforming its anticipated accuracy and success rate.”
LFR works by comparing a live camera feed with biometric templates of images from a pre-established watchlist. Unique to each deployment, watchlists feature police images of persons of interest such as those wanted by the police or courts as well as those subject to bail conditions or specific court orders.
If a match is found, officers are notified via secure devices to review the match and ascertain whether it is a true match. Officers will then engage with the individual to conduct further assessments to confirm their identification before taking appropriate action.
The force will also deploy LFR as part of operations to safeguard vulnerable individuals such as locating high risk missing people, victims of crime or people that have been identified as potentially having crucial information relating to a serious crime investigation.
The Police and Crime Commissioner has set out a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Bedfordshire Police, establishing the principles and governance for the ethical, legal, and proportionate use of LFR technology. The MOU outlines the terms of oversight and accountability, ensuring that LFR deployments are subject to scrutiny by an Ethics Panel which will assess compliance and community impact.
Police and Crime Commissioner, John Tizard said that the technology is “equipping police officers with targeted, cutting-edge technology to catch high-harm criminals.”
He added: “In order to fulfil my duties and ensure effective governance of the use of LFR, I have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chief Constable, and I will be introducing an ethics panel for the wider use of AI in policing.”
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