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The Home Office has announced plans that could see facial recognition technology adopted more widely by all UK police forces.
A 10-week public consultation is intended to strike a balance between increasing the use of the technology and safeguarding individual privacy.
Since 2017, eight police forces in England and Wales have employed facial recognition to identify wanted suspects, locate vulnerable individuals, and monitor public events.
Officials maintain that the technology is crucial for apprehending serious offenders, but rights groups have expressed concerns over potential privacy infringements and racial biases.
Policing and crime minister Sarah Jones acknowledged “legitimate concerns” surrounding the technology, but suggested that a broader implementation could represent “the biggest breakthrough” in law enforcement since the advent of DNA analysis.
The public consultation may result in new legislation governing the circumstances under which police can deploy facial recognition technology. Currently, three types of facial recognition are permitted for specific purposes.
The Home Office contends that the existing legal framework, while present, “does not give the police sufficient confidence to use it at significantly greater scale”.
The specific scenarios for expanded facial recognition use have not been detailed, but possibilities include locating undocumented migrants.
Authorities also suggest the technology could aid in identifying and rearresting prisoners released in error, with deployments intended to be time-limited and targeted.
The Home Office estimates that any new legislation informed by the consultation would require approximately two years to pass through Parliament.
While primarily affecting police forces in England and Wales, the changes could also have implications for certain powers in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
One proposal under consideration is the creation of a regulatory body to oversee police use of biometrics and facial recognition technology.
The public consultation includes an online survey accessible via the government website, with options to respond via email or postal mail.
Zara, 18, expressed support for using the technology to apprehend criminals but also voiced reservations about expanding its application.
“I feel like I wouldn’t be comfortable with the police walking around with cameras in my face,” she told BBC Newsbeat in Birmingham. “Maybe only use it in stations, not out in public unless you really have to.”
Nabiyah was more receptive to the idea, suggesting it could deter offenses like shoplifting.
“People might feel like they can’t commit them as easily,” the 25-year-old said.
Osma, 24, similarly viewed the technology as “not necessarily a bad thing” and suggested the UK should align with other countries “so much ahead of us” in its adoption.
The three types of facial recognition technology currently available to police are:
According to the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police, the UK’s largest force, has made 1,300 arrests using the technology since 2023, including individuals accused of rape and violent crimes.
However, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners referenced a review on retrospective facial recognition published on Thursday, which identified “in-built bias” in the technology.
The review indicated that “in some circumstances, it is more likely to incorrectly match black and Asian people than their white counterparts,” and that the tool has been deployed “without adequate safeguards.”
The government invested £12.6m in facial recognition in 2024, with £2.8m allocated to live recognition technology.
An additional £6.6m has been invested this year to support the adoption, evaluation, and rollout of facial recognition technology.
This includes £3.9m for the development of a new national facial matching service, scheduled for testing in 2026.
The service aims to provide police with an improved method for retrospective searching and a new national database of custody images.
The new database, which would be operated by the Home Office, is intended to enhance and replace the existing national police database and could contain millions of images, similar to the scale of the current database.
The facial matching service is also undergoing separate trials to assist in identifying and locating individuals sought by immigration enforcement.
Jones stated: “We will expand [facial recognition’s] use so that forces can put more criminals behind bars and tackle crime in their communities.”
Silkie Carlo of Big Brother Watch described the consultation as overdue and called for a moratorium on the use of facial recognition during the consultation period.
She argued that “facial recognition surveillance is out of control” and that the country is “hurtling towards an authoritarian surveillance state.”
Lindsey Chiswick, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for facial recognition, emphasized that live facial recognition is already subject to robust safeguards but stressed the importance of “public trust.”
“We want to build on that by listening to people’s views,” she said.
Ruth Ehrlich, head of policy at Liberty, told BBC Breakfast: “We do really welcome the fact that there is going to be a debate on how facial recognition technology is regulated and used across police forces.
“But we’re obviously disappointed that this comes alongside a government commitment to ramp up its use before we’ve understood its dangers.”
She added: “What we want to see are strict safeguards that say where and when police can use this technology.”
In November, a new fleet of mobile vans was deployed by 10 forces, expanding a pilot program led by the Met, South Wales Police and Essex Police.
The UK’s equality regulator has previously criticised the Met’s use of live facial recognition technology, asserting that its deployment breached human rights law, claims the Met has refuted.
The Home Office grants the Ethiopian great-grandmother a visa so she can visit family in Reading.
The police live facial recognition van went live in Woking on 13 November.
The demonstrators oppose Home Office plans to house up to 540 male asylum seekers in the town.
The ban is set to come in February and any exemptions will have to be signed off by the Home Office.
More than 500 male asylum seekers were due to be housed in Crowborough from the end of November.
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