Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology will be deployed in Liverpool city centre.
Merseyside Police are creating a new way to identify individuals of interest to help prevent and detect crime by making people feel safe and unharmed.
They aim to keep the public safe, identify serious offenders and protect the vulnerable, which is designed to be responsible and fair.
Assistant Chief Constable Jennifer Wilson, Matrix and Force Operations said: “Live Facial Recognition is a vital tool that will help us quickly identify and apprehend those who pose the greatest risk to our communities.
“We’re committed to using the best technology to keep people safe, prevent crime, and protect the most vulnerable. LFR allows us to locate high-harm offenders swiftly and effectively.”
The Live Facial Recognition will use cameras to capture real-time images of people’s faces to compare them against people in their database and will be used to locate persons of interest by generating an alert when a match is found.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that the watchlist contains details of people who are wanted for crime and that members of the public cannot be matched unless they are on the list.
But Liberty Human Rights called on the Government to halt the rollout of facial recognition after finding that children have been included on police watchlists.
They found that hundreds of children, some as young as 12, have been included in watchlists by police forces across the country.
Akiko Hart, Liberty director, said: “The fact children are being swept up in police facial recognition watchlists is extremely worrying, and further evidence of why robust safeguards around how this technology is used needs to come first.
“Instead of the Government putting clear and consistent rules in place around how police are using facial recognition to ensure the rights of the public are protected, the forces have been left to choose for themselves.
“The result is what we are seeing here, with police across the country taking very different approaches to including children on watchlists which carry serious risks for their rights and safety.”
The system used to identify people of interest has been independently tested for bias by the National Physical Laboratory, and results shows that the algorithm is accurate and no bias for ethnicity, age or gender.
Facial Recognition can still work when someone is wearing a face covering, but the system will rely primarily on visible features like the eyes and upper facial regions and accuracy could be reduced.
Hart said: “The government must halt the rapidly increasing roll out of facial technology, follow the example of other countries, and put laws and robust safeguards in place to prioritise and protect the rights of the British public.”
The first deployment will be in Liverpool City Centre on Monday, December 15, with further dates and location unknown but these will be published on Merseyside Police’s website once confirmed.
Featured image: Merseyside Police
