UK police organized crime unit seeks new facial recognition software

The UK’s main law enforcement agency against organized crime is looking into new facial recognition solutions, as the country doubles down on the use of the technology to crack down on crime.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) issued a Request for Information (RFI) this week to facial recognition suppliers, inviting the industry to provide input on requirements and delivery strategy.

The agency, which deals with serious trafficking, cybercrime and economic crime, is planning to engage companies that provide 1:1, 1:Many, and Many:Many retrospective facial recognition.

The product must be able to identify people even in poor-quality images and videos while its algorithms should be tested by NIST or the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) with successful results in accuracy and “non-demographic bias.” The software should be capable of working with Officer Initiated Facial Recognition (OIFR) and live facial recognition. Lastly, the product will need to handle large image datasets and work on NCA’s platform which has no direct internet access.

The agency notes that the request only seeks information and is not a call for bids. The notice, however, is likely among the first steps that will see new facial recognition technology deployed throughout the UK.

“Should the NCA take this procurement forward, it will be issued via the NCA’s ATAMIS e-tendering solution,” the agency says.

UK sees rise in police use of facial recognition

The National Crime Agency is not the only law enforcement department jumping on the facial recognition bandwagon: Use of the technology by the UK’s largest police force has seen a surge this year.

From January to the end of August this year, London’s Metropolitan Police deployed the technology 117 times. In comparison, the force used facial recognition only 32 times between 2020 and 2023, according to data compiled by members of the London City Hall Greens party.

Almost 771,000 people have had their faces scanned over almost five years while the most targeted areas were Croydon and Westminster. The deployments lasted more than 716 hours, according to the analysis reported by The Financial Times.

The Met Police ramped up its use of facial recognition this summer during the anti-immigration riots that swept through parts of the UK, instigated by the Southport stabbing attack.

The police force, however, has also been met with a lawsuit over a case of misidentification unrelated to the riots. Digital rights group Big Brother Watch argues that the case is the “tip of the iceberg” of people falsely accused after being misidentified by live facial recognition.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  criminal ID  |  facial recognition  |  London Metropolitan Police  |  re-identification  |  RFI  |  tender  |  UK