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21
Sept
Mass surveillance to be introduced in North Yorkshire this week
Live facial recognition will be used by police in North Yorkshire for the first time on Wednesday (September 23).
North Yorkshire Police says the trial will help it tackle serious crime.
But civil liberties groups say the technology, which scans the faces of everyone passing through a public space and compares them against a police watchlist, is a form of mass surveillance.
The force will use LFR for the first time in York city centre on Wednesday.
No further details of the policing purpose have been provided by North Yorkshire Police, but it says future deployments of the equipment will be announced here.
British Transport Police, which polices the British railway network, said this week it too will be trialling LFR.
Both forces say they will deploy the equipment responsibly and transparently.
North Yorkshire Police revealed this year it planned to trial the technology.
It said in a statement today:
LFR is used in carefully selected, intelligence led locations to help identify individuals who are wanted by the police or the courts; are suspected of committing an offence; are unlawfully at large or wanted on recall to prison; may breach bail conditions, a court order or another restriction by being in the deployment area; are missing and assessed as being at increased risk of harm; or present a risk of harm to themselves or others.”
A number of forces across the country are now using the technology to successfully locate wanted individuals more efficiently, protect vulnerable people and deter crime through targeted deployments.
Our first deployment will take place this Wednesday (23 September) in York city centre and, in line with national guidance, all future deployments will be publicised in advance.
Labour's Jo Coles, who has York and North Yorkshire’s deputy mayor for policing, fire and crime is responsible for scrutinising the police, said she had received assurances from North Yorkshire Police on the deployment of live facial recognition technology on issues including data protection, oversight, deployment criteria and the risk of mission creep.
Ms Coles added:
It is right that the police make use of new tools that may help keep people safe as the nature of crime changes, but this must always be done responsibly and with robust safeguards.
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