Facial recognition flags 1 ‘criminal’ in 330,000 faces – but it’s a false alarm
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Out of the 330,000 commuters scanned with facial recognition cameras in London, only one person has been flagged as a criminal – and even that was a false alarm.
British Transport Police has deployed the controversial live facial recognition (LFR) cameras across ‘crime hotspots’ in London’s busiest stations since February in a bid to identify people wanted by police.
They have carried out 13 deployments so far – representing around 50 hours of officers’ time – but no criminals have been found.
Only one face has ever triggered an alert by the system at King’s Cross Station in February, but this was later found to be an error.
Big Brother Watch said: ‘The figures from the British Transport Police’s live facial recognition pilot would be laughable, if they didn’t have such troubling implications for our rights and freedoms.
‘Millions of Londoners use the city’s stations every day and may have already found themselves caught in a digital police line-up, likely without even realising. It’s not fair to subject innocent people to intrusive identity checks during their commute.’
A British Transport Police spokesperson said: ‘To date, no alerts have resulted in a confirmed match. We have set a deliberately high threshold to prioritise accuracy and reduce the likelihood of misidentification, with all alerts subject to officer review before any engagement.
‘LFR is being deployed as part of wider policing operations at stations, alongside existing patrols and engagement activity, to keep passengers and staff safe.
‘During these deployments, officers have made 13 arrests for offences including breach of Criminal Behaviour Orders, theft and public order offences. Four people were arrested after being identified as wanted by other forces.
‘As these arrests were not as a direct result of a facial match using the LFR technology, they are not included within LFR performance data.
‘We can confirm that we have seen a reduction in crime during the periods where these operations have been in place, which reflects the broader policing activity and increased officer presence.’