Scottish Biometrics Commissioner launches consultation on LFR with police

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner and local law enforcement agencies have launched a consultation on police use of live facial recognition (LFR), as scrutiny from privacy advocacy groups continues.

The consultation is an exploratory one, designed to determine public sentiment on the technology and will not be used to determine whether police will use live facial recognition. A separate public call will be made if the police decide to pursue implementation of the technology, the Biometrics Commissioner, Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland announced this week.

“Police Scotland will decide on the basis of responses whether to commit more resources to exploring LFR in detail and then fully consulting on specific detail in the future,” it says.

The consultation comes after calls for an investigation into Police Scotland’s practices from civil liberties advocates. Critics have raised concerns that the technology may undermine public trust and that surveillance could become pervasive and intrusive.

Police Scotland’s five-year digitization plan includes real-time biometric analytics and body-worn video cameras, set to be rolled out in 2025.

Last year, the Scottish Police Authority launched a national conversation on live facial recognition. Law enforcement agencies claim there is public support in Scotland for facial recognition in public spaces in certain cases.

The Scottish police have laid out three use cases where live facial recognition could be deployed.

The first one targets city nightlife areas and is aimed at protecting women from sexual and other types of violence. Use case number two targets high-risk missing persons such as young children and the elderly and would involve placing cameras at places such as transport hubs. The final use case are large-scale indoor events where live facial recognition could be deployed to find people who pose risk to public safety, including terrorists.

Much like the rest of the UK, Scotland currently lacks a unified legal framework for regulating the technology.

Last year, the Scottish government published a review of biometric data retention practices, highlighting that Police Scotland lacks a dedicated policy. In 2020, Scotland enacted the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act, establishing an accountability framework for biometric data in policing and criminal justice.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  police  |  real-time biometrics  |  Scotland  |  Scottish Biometrics Commissioner