Facial recognition cost, false alerts for Wales police falling over time

Police in Wales have spent more than £3.5 million (US$4.7 million) on facial recognition over the last seven years with the technology leading to 93 arrests.

South Wales Police started deployments in 2017, investing £1.1 million ($1.4 million ) in the technology during that year. In 2024 the force spent the lowest amount, just over £188,000 ($254,500), according to police data obtained by Wales Online. Data for the current year has not yet been released.

Live facial recognition (LFR) was deployed more than 150 times during this period, with the technology deployed to surveil major sporting events as well as concerts from Oasis, Lana del Rey, Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé.

An analysis of LFR deployments shows a steep decrease in the number of incorrect alerts. During its first use of the technology at the 2017 Champions League final in Cardiff, the police received 2554 incorrect alerts, a vast majority of the total 2632 alerts recorded.

By 2022, the number of incorrect alerts dropped to zero. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the technology was deployed only once during 2020 and 2021.

Data for 2025 show that the Welsh police have deployed LFR 16 times so far, leading to more than 70 interventions.

“When it comes to public safety the PCC is clear: we will continue to utilise new and innovative technology to keep the public safe,” a spokesman for the Police and Crime Commissioner told the new outlet.

The South Wales Police currently uses NEC’s NeoFace M40 algorithm facial recognition technology. The LFR system searches for possible matches from a watchlist of offenders wanted by the police and courts.

Since 2023, police data also records face-match threshold settings which are currently set at 0.64.

According to a study on the NEC facial recognition system commissioned by the London Metropolitan Police and published by the UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL), false positive identifications increase at lower face-match thresholds (0.58 and 0.56), with the system displaying a slight difference in performance between some demographics. No statistically significant bias at a setting of 0.6 or higher has been recorded.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council, which represents forces in England and Wales, asked the government in May to invest more in science and tech, including live facial recognition. Meanwhile LFR continues to advance throughout the UK, sparking debate with a return to Notting Hill Carnival and rolling out in Scotland.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  NEC  |  NeoFace  |  police  |  real-time biometrics  |  South Wales Police