Met Police live facial recognition

London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) conducted a series of trials of live facial recognition technology across London between August 2016 and February 2019. 

Using NEC's NeoFace system, the trials took place at the Notting Hill Carnival, Remembrance Sunday, Stratford Westfield shopping centre and Romford.

In April 2023, the Met Police announced it was to resume all forms of facial recognition on the basis of a study it and South Wales Police had commissioned the UK National Physical Laboratory to carry out.

Transparency and accountability 🙈

The Metropolitan Police's live facial recognition (LFR) trials in London were seen to suffer from several transparency and accountability limitations:

• Public awareness and consultation. The trials were conducted with limited public consultation, raising concerns about the adequacy of public awareness and consent for the use of such intrusive technology. Information about the trials was not made available to the public until after several deployments had already occurred, undermining the transparency efforts required by the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s Code of Practice.

• Disclosure of methodology and data. The methodology for the LFR trials focused primarily on technical aspects, with insufficient detail on non-technical objectives such as the broader utility of LFR as a policing tool. Key details about how watchlists were formulated and how success was measured were not clearly defined or disclosed, complicating public understanding and scrutiny of the trials.

• Engagement with Stakeholders. Whilst the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) engaged with civil society groups and stakeholders, the effectiveness of this engagement was questioned. Some groups felt their involvement was more reactive than proactive, and they did not consider themselves part of the stakeholder group.

• Operational vs experimental ambiguity. The trials were not clearly distinguished from operational deployments, leading to ambiguity about their purpose and raising questions about the legitimacy and consent for participation.

Risks and harms 🛑

The Met Police's facial recognition pilot programme was plagued by criticism from civil and privacy rights advocates and technology and legal experts regarding the accuracy of the system, and complaints about inadequate transparency, accountability, and privacy protection.

Regulation 👩🏼‍⚖️

• UK Data Protection Act 2018

Legal, regulatory ⚖️

• Information Commisisoner's Office. ICO investigation into how the police use facial recognition technology in public places (pdf)

Investigations, assessments, audits 🧐

• Science & Technology in Policing (2023). Operational Testing of Facial Recognition Technology

• Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy (2022). A Socio-Technical Audit: Assessing Police Use of Facial Recognition (pdf)

• Human Rights Centre, Essex University (2019). Independent Report on the London Metropolitan Police Service's Trial of Live Facial Recognition Technology (pdf)

Research, advocacy 🧮

• Big Brother Watch (2020). Briefing on facial recognition surveillance (pdf)

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/03/police-face-calls-to-end-use-of-facial-recognition-software

• https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/17/met_police_facial_recognition_december_rollout/

• https://www.wired.co.uk/article/met-police-london-facial-recognition-test

• https://news.sky.com/story/met-polices-facial-recognition-tech-has-81-error-rate-independent-report-says-11755941

• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9253037/Met-Polices-arrested-one-person-scanning-13-000-people-facial-recognition-cameras.html

• https://time.com/5770976/london-facial-recognition-police/

• https://futurism.com/the-byte/facial-recognition-red-flags-police-lied

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48222017