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A police inspectorate has urged UK police forces to “fully exploit” retrospective facial recognition, recommending that no investigation be closed before cross-checking images against available databases. The call comes as new figures on law enforcement's use of facial recognition emerge, showing that more than 250,000 searches were conducted last year.
By June, police forces should introduce a rule for searching images against the Police National Database (PND) and other relevant databases before an investigation is closed, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMIFRS) said in a recent report. The Inspectorate also commended police forces that performed the most facial recognition searches,
according to The Telegraph.
The inspectorate’s call to increase the use of the technology comes after the media outlet released new figures on police use of facial recognition showing that officers ran more than a quarter of a million retrospective facial recognition searches in the UK last year – approximately one search every two minutes.
This includes 30,000 searchers performed by the country’s largest police service, London’s Metropolitan Police, according to data obtained under freedom of information laws by The Telegraph and digital rights group Big Brother Watch. This is more than ten times compared to searches in 2019.
Despite these figures, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has welcomed the HMIFRS recommendation to increase the use of facial recognition.
“Where there are reasonable lines of inquiry and a clear policing purpose, we encourage officers to use every tool at their disposal to assist in their investigations, including retrospective facial recognition,” a Council spokesperson says.
In March, media reports found that the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC)
told forces not to reveal information on topics related to the use of banned surveillance software.
Retrospective facial recognition used for low-level crime
In related news, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been investigating police use of facial recognition technology.
“Facial recognition technology (FRT) can bring clear benefits in helping to prevent and detect crime, but it relies on processing large amounts of sensitive personal data,” the ICO says in a statement. “Therefore, its use must be necessary and proportionate, and its design must meet expectations of fairness and accuracy.”
While retrospective facial recognition was initially introduced to catch serious and violent offenders, data acquired by The Telegraph has shown that the technology is now used to conduct low-level investigations such as mail theft and anti-social behavior. The Essex Police, for instance, used the technology for 16 investigations to determine no crime had been committed.
The images used by retrospective facial recognition are obtained from sources such as CCTV, mobile phone footage, dashcams, doorbell cameras and social media. These are crosschecked against the Police National Database (PND) which holds photographs from 55 agencies.
An expansion of police databases?
Former biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner
Fraser Sampson responded to the report with a call for more attention to the government use of facial recognition – both live and retrospective.
“The placement of live facial recognition cameras has dominated the public space surveillance debate, but surveillance is no longer about where the police put their cameras; it is about what the state does with the images from everyone’s cameras,” he says.
Fraser also warned that the police don’t only use photographs of convicted people for matching images.
Currently, the police are allowed to
search the passport database with permission from the government. Law enforcement authorities, however, have also been pushing to include facial recognition searches on the national database of
driving licenses.
“The UK driver’s licence and passport databases have millions of high-quality images that can be used for retrospective matching, but we submitted them because we wanted to drive on a road or leave the country, rather than for a criminal justice purpose,” says Fraser. “More interconnected state databases exist and new ones will emerge, sometimes shared with other countries.”
A police inspectorate has urged UK police forces to “fully exploit” retrospective facial recognition, recommending that no investigation be closed before cross-checking images against available databases. The call comes as new figures on law enforcement's use of facial recognition emerge, showing that more than 250,000 searches were conducted last year.
By June, police forces should introduce a rule for searching images against the Police National Database (PND) and other relevant databases before an investigation is closed, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMIFRS) said in a recent report. The Inspectorate also commended police forces that performed the most facial recognition searches, according to The Telegraph.
The inspectorate’s call to increase the use of the technology comes after the media outlet released new figures on police use of facial recognition showing that officers ran more than a quarter of a million retrospective facial recognition searches in the UK last year – approximately one search every two minutes.
This includes 30,000 searchers performed by the country’s largest police service, London’s Metropolitan Police, according to data obtained under freedom of information laws by The Telegraph and digital rights group Big Brother Watch. This is more than ten times compared to searches in 2019.
Despite these figures, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has welcomed the HMIFRS recommendation to increase the use of facial recognition.
“Where there are reasonable lines of inquiry and a clear policing purpose, we encourage officers to use every tool at their disposal to assist in their investigations, including retrospective facial recognition,” a Council spokesperson says.
In March, media reports found that the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) told forces not to reveal information on topics related to the use of banned surveillance software.