How facial recognition is being used to fight crime in Bradford
BBCIt's a weekday morning in Bradford and a police van is pulling up in a busy pedestrian area on Market Street.
There are no flashing lights or sirens - just the familiar blue and yellow markings and a dark camera mounted high on the roof.
Shoppers weave around it and nobody appears to pay much attention, even after signs are put out warning that live facial recognition technology is in use.
For the people walking through the city it's an ordinary day, but inside the van a bank of screens displays the faces passing by, comparing them in real time with a police watchlist.
PC Josh Brayshaw is monitoring the stream of faces. Within minutes of setting up, he gets an alert that a suspect is approaching.
The computer sounds an alarm and a mugshot of a woman flashes up with the words "lower level wanted" and "theft".
By the time PC Brayshaw jumps out of the van, two colleagues - who have received the information on mobile devices - have already stopped a woman with long black hair, carrying a coat and a handbag.
She looks understandably worried as PC Brayshaw approaches to explain what is happening,
"This is a live facial recognition van and it's taken a still of your face and identified you as someone we need to speak to."
"Oh," she replies.
"You look a bit shocked," he continues. "Do you want to take a seat on the edge of the van?"
She complies and PC Brayshaw then confirms her name and date of birth before arresting her in connection with two shoplifting offences.
This is one of eight arrests that the Bradford team makes during a four-day operation using live facial recognition, or LFR, technology.
The high-tech vans use AI software to scan and measure facial features captured by a live camera feed.
If a face is not matched to anyone on the watchlist, the biometric information is deleted from the police system.
The kit has been used by West Yorkshire Police since November 2025, leading to 97 arrests so far.
Supporters say it is transforming policing and helping officers catch criminals, but critics argue it infringes civil liberties and treats every passer-by as a potential suspect.
The district commander in Bradford, Ch Supt Richard Padwell, says it is "good protection" and the public should be reassured.
"We're getting people who are wanted for some really nasty offences, including abuse against children, rape and other serious crimes," he says.
"But an individual will never be arrested on the basis of an alert alone; they are always checked by a human being, a police officer, so we absolutely have safeguards in place."
Not everyone stopped by the system is wanted for a crime. The cameras also flag people who are considered a risk to the public.
When the second alert sounds in the van the mugshot that flashes up belongs to a convicted sex offender.
A thin, middle-aged man, who says he does not speak English, is asked to take a seat in the van.
He is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, meaning he must comply with certain conditions designed to reduce the risk of further offending.
PC Brayshaw explains why he's been stopped and asks the woman accompanying him to translate.
"Tell him he hasn't registered this phone with the police, so I am seizing it."
The phone is confiscated and there are more questions and forms to fill in before the man is eventually sent on his way.
For every person identified by LFR, thousands of innocent people may be scanned, raising questions raised about whether the technology is proportionate.
Privacy campaigners have criticised its use, although in April a High Court challenge against the Metropolitan Police's use of live facial recognition was dismissed.
In Bradford, few people appeared concerned by the presence of the cameras.
Only one passer-by, a smartly dressed woman in her 50s, stops to say she feels like she is "living in a Big Brother society".
Then, after a long pause, she adds:
"But I guess it keeps us safe."
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