Minister pledges facial recognition law 'safeguards'

The policing minister has promised new legislation on the use of live facial recognition (LFR) in public areas that she says will introduce stronger safeguards to ensure it is used in a proportionate way.

Sarah Jones said a government consultation suggested the public "by and large" supported LFR, but wanted reassurances around how it is used.

The Metropolitan Police said LFR was "making London safer" and had led to more than 3,000 arrests in the past two years.

However, privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch said the technology "is treating everyone who walks by as a suspect by default - you have to prove that you're not someone that the police is looking for".

The government launched a public consultation on developing a future legal framework for LFR last December and is now setting out its response.

Privacy campaigners have previously criticised an "alarming escalation" in police use of the technology, which maps a person's unique facial features and matches them against faces on watchlists.

Jones, the MP for Croydon West, told BBC London that where concerns have been raised they are "around proportionality, how far and wide are you going to go with this technology, what could it become".

She said the new legislation would set "parameters and principles" over what LFR will be used for, including catching wanted criminals and searching for missing people.

Jones added: "For example, if I had an outstanding parking fine, I would not expect this technology to be used for that.

"We have to use it proportionately. We have to use it in an intelligence-led way.

"And I think we also have to be clear that there will be some oversight."

The Home Office said a new independent watchdog would be created to provide scrutiny, which in extreme cases could pursue enforcement action against police forces to block them using LFR.

Jasleen Chaggar, senior legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch, told BBC London: "The way in which facial recognition technology works is it's an indiscriminate tool which scans the face of every single person who walks by the camera.

"And that's doing something that's fundamentally un-British, because in this country you have the presumption of innocence."

She said "thousands of people have expressed their objection to the use of this technology and the government have sat on those responses for over six months".

Chaggar added: "All the while, facial recognition has been rolled out in train stations and Tube stations and shops and supermarkets across the country.

"We all want serious criminals off the street, but this technology puts the burden of policing on law-abiding citizens.

"Why should people who have done absolutely nothing to arouse the suspicion of the authorities have their identity biometrically checked, in a way that's as sensitive as giving away your fingerprints or your DNA, just as they go about their daily lives?"

The Met has been ramping up its deployment of LFR over the past two years.

In most cases, this involves vans being sent to selected locations around the capital, with cameras set up to scan the faces of people walking through the area.

If a face matches anyone on a database of wanted criminals or missing people, it alerts officers who then double-check it, before deciding whether to stop the individual.

The Met said faces that were not a match on the database are instantly deleted.

In April, the Met Police won a High Court battle against privacy campaigners who were seeking to limit its use of LFR.

Youth worker Shaun Thompson and Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, brought the challenge over concerns that facial recognition could be used arbitrarily or in a discriminatory way.

But the High Court rejected claims that the Met Police had broken human rights and privacy law.

Following the Met's victory, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said that the "government will want to carefully consider how they continue to enable rather than over regulate technologies".

Civil liberties and anti-racism groups have raised concerns over potential racial bias, criticising the use of LFR at Notting Hill Carnival, arguing it could be "less accurate for women and people of colour".

The Met insists the way it operates the technology has been assessed as being accurate and fair by the National Physical Laboratory.

It says its deployment at Carnival this year led to more than 120 arrests. According to data on its website, more than 270,000 faces were scanned and one false alert was recorded.

Jones said police were currently operating under a "patchwork" of "piecemeal legislation" and that a specific law would improve public confidence while also supporting the police.

"At the moment, the Met will have one way of doing things and other forces will have different ways of operating. So there'll be some consistency. It will be easier for the Met to know what they can and can't do."

The Home Office said a legal code of practice would be developed for police, with a separate code for private businesses using facial recognition to tackle crime.

In August, Sainsbury's suspended its use of the technology at one store in East Dulwich after a customer was wrongly challenged as a shoplifter and asked to leave.

The supermarket claimed the mistake was caused by human error.

Nick Fisher, chief executive of Facewatch, the UK's largest provider of the technology to retailers, including Sainsburys, welcomed the announcement.

"Facewatch has been hoping the government would not create a regulatory gap between police and private-sector use of facial recognition, and this announcement allays those concerns," he said.

"Clear rules, independent oversight and accountability are vital to public trust, alongside recognising the technology's role in preventing crime and protecting shop workers."

Met Police Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes told BBC London that LFR had been "delivering a safer London" over the past two years.

"We've made over 3,000 arrests using this technology and we're particularly controlling the behaviour of some dangerous people: registered sex offenders, who we're picking up and identifying in breach of their conditions."

In December the Met is planning to expand its use of static live facial recognition cameras to the West End and Soho following a pilot in Croydon.

The cameras are attached to street furniture such as lampposts, meaning they can be operated remotely, although a team of officers on the ground are still required to check any "matches" are correct.

Jukes said the exact locations in the West End were still being discussed but that Oxford Street was "obviously" under consideration, adding that the move would improve safety for Christmas shoppers.

He said officers were also piloting handheld devices which could help confirm the identity of suspects on the spot, and added the Met was keen that any new legislation would not restrict police in responding to different types of crime.

"We've been talking to government; we're confident that they've listened to our perspectives on that, and so far we feel what's coming forward is a framework that we'll be able to work with, but also keep informing, keep innovating."

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