UK announces largest ever facial recognition rollout as part of policing reforms

The UK has announced large-scale policing reforms, including new investments into artificial intelligence and increased Live Facial Recognition (LFR) deployments.

The Home Office has pledged to fund 40 new LFR vans as part of a national program to expand facial recognition capabilities in town centres across England and Wales, according to a white paper published on Monday.

The country also plans to invest £115 million (US$157.3 million) over the next 3 years into a National Centre for AI in Policing, known as Police.AI. The institution will focus on testing and deploying AI technology that can catch criminals, speed up investigations and reduce administrative burdens.

The changes are part of the “most significant modernisation of policing in nearly 200 years,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in an announcement.

“The need for significant police reform has been there for more than a decade and is now urgent, in a world where 90 per cent of crime has a digital element,” says Mahmood.

The 106-page reform blueprint promises that deployment of AI technologies will be supported by a new regulatory framework, including one for police use of facial recognition. Plans also include establishing a public register documenting AI systems currently deployed by police forces.

To streamline data governance, authorities propose appointing a single decision-maker for policing to oversee national datasets to establish clearer accountability for policing data and its sharing practices. Officials intend to work with policing bodies to define specific national standards for police data and data quality requirements, with mandatory compliance where appropriate.

Additionally, efforts will focus on identifying barriers to technology adoption within forces and providing support for AI implementation. Police chiefs are reportedly already evaluating around 100 projects related to the use of AI against crime.

The white paper is not just bringing new technology but also changing the structure of UK police forces.

The UK will establish a National Police Service (NPS) to tackle counter-terror, serious and organised crime and fraud. The unit will also be tasked with setting mandatory standards in areas such as technology, data and professional practices.

The new service will combine existing national bodies, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the College of Policing, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP). The NPS will be run by a National Police Commissioner accountable to the home secretary.

At the same time, the Home Office plans to merge the country’s 43 separate police headquarters into a smaller number, according to the paper titled From Local to National: A New Model for Policing.

“Modern crime requires a modern policing response. We support and have been calling for this ambitious step to bring together some of the most capable policing teams in the country into a single National Police Service,” Counter Terrorism Policing, the Metropolitan Police and the NPCC said in a statement.

Technology will also be applied in predictive analytics, which analyzes data and intelligence to identify the communities where crime is happening. Last year, the Home Office announced plans for a real-time and interactive crime map of England and Wales.

The police will also be trained in spotting misinformation, tackling deepfakes, and responding to other AI threats. The Home Office is planning to hire more crime analysts who can predict crime hotspots, digital forensics specialists to recover evidence from devices and cyber investigators to track down online scammers and dark web criminal networks.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  law enforcement  |  live facial recognition  |  police  |  predictive policing  |  real-time biometrics  |  UK