UK govt building on live facial recognition, announces predictive policing prototype

The UK government has announced a predictive policing project, relying on AI-powered interactive crime maps and facial recognition technology, that should be operational across England and Wales by 2030.

The Concentrations of Crime Data Challenge will be delivered by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The real-time and interactive crime map is designed to prevent theft, anti-social behaviour, knife crime and violent crime, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle announced on Friday.

The prototype will rely on an initial £4 million government investment and is scheduled for April 2026.

The system will bring together data from police, councils, and social services, including criminal records, previous incident locations, and behavioral patterns of known offenders, providing insight to law enforcement agencies and their partners on where to direct their resources.

“We are giving police the tools they need to make our streets safer, and this crime map will be a powerful tool, building on the expanded rollout of live facial recognition vans we unveiled this week,” Minister for Policing and Crime Prevention Diana Johnson said in a statement.

Last week, the Home Office announced more live facial recognition (LFR) deployments in public spaces, thanks to a rollout of 10 additional vans equipped with the technology to seven police forces. More investment into facial recognition is expected, with police chiefs requesting £220 million (US$296 million) annually for the next three years for science and technology projects such as LFR deployments.

The Concentrations of Crime Data Challenge will rely on teams from the business sector and universities for development and will be funded by the state’s R&D Missions Accelerator Programme.

The project is part of the Labour government’s Plan for Change, which sets a target of halving knife crime and violence against women and girls within a decade. As part of the plan, the government also plans to put 13,000 additional police officers, police community support officers (PCSOs) and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles.

“Our police officers are at their best when they join up to prevent crime rather than react to it, and R&D can deliver crucial tools for them to stay one step ahead of potential dangers to the public and property – keeping our streets safe and delivering on our Plan for Change,” says Technology Secretary Kyle.

Sussex police chief criticizes application of data protection laws to shoplifters

Another part of the UK government’s Plan for Change is lowering retail crime, which has hit record numbers in 2024, surpassing 500,000 offenses for the first time. Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex Katy Bourne, however, is criticizing the state’s inaction towards shoplifting, blaming the crime spike on the lack of meaningful deterrents and the UK’s data protection laws.

“It seems to me that the pendulum of individual rights has swung almost irrevocably towards the offender, with a purist application of data protection law advising embattled shopkeepers not to share images of suspect criminals,” says Bourne, who also acts as national lead for shoplifting at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners.

The police chief referenced a notice from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) advising shopkeepers against putting up images of thieves in a local area, such as in shop windows. Retailers “must only share personal information that’s proportionate and necessary to achieve your purpose,” according to the data watchdog.

The UK has created an “indigestible legislative layer cake of rights and data protection laws and police guidance” that treats criminals with kid gloves, Bourne says in a letter to The Telegraph published last Sunday.

The policing official also notes that the criminal justice system needs to find alternative methods to prevent retail crime, as many offenders are being set free because of a lack of prison capacity. Bourne welcomed the deployment of vans equipped with live facial recognition cameras in Sussex and has supported the introduction of a GPS tagging system for persistent shoplifters.

The Sussex police chief has also been involved in the OPAL, a national intelligence unit focused on serious organized acquisitive crime (SOAC). OPAL also includes Project Pegasus, an initiative funded by the UK’s largest retailers, which aims to match CCTV images of shoplifters with those in a national police database.

“Fundamental to the success of Opal in identifying and tracking organised crime gangs in retail was the sharing of intelligence on suspects, so we need to overcome the data-sharing obstacles that deter local stores from sharing suspects with each other,” says Bourne.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT)  |  facial recognition  |  live facial recognition  |  London Metropolitan Police  |  police  |  UK