London police win legal challenge against live facial recognition deployment

London’s Met Police force has won a legal challenge to its use of live facial recognition, allowing them to continue to use the technology. The High Court in London ruled on Tuesday that the Metropolitan Police did not break human rights and privacy law by scanning faces in public.

The case was brought by anti-knife crime community worker Shaun Thompson, who was misidentified by the system and detained by police in 2024. Thompson filed the challenge alongside Silkie Carlo, director of digital rights advocacy group Big Brother Watch.

​In the ruling, the High Court stated that the “risk and potential scope for discrimination on grounds of race was no more than faintly asserted” and that Thompson and Carlo’s human rights had not been breached.

“This legal judgment is a significant and important victory for public safety,” Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said in a statement. “The court has been clear: our use of Live Facial Recognition is lawful and supported by strong safeguards.”

The police added that the technology helped them arrest more than 2,100 people since the beginning of 2024, including more than 100 sex offenders. Last year, the LFR cameras scanned more than 3 million faces, resulting in 12 false alerts, none of which led to arrests.

Commissioner Rowley also said that the public is on the side of the police, with around 80 percent of Londoners supporting the use of LFR.

“A small number of campaign groups continue to argue that police should be prevented from using a proven tool that helps us catch paedophiles, rapists, violent criminals and those wanted by the courts,” he says.

The Met Police use NEC‘s Neoface live facial recognition algorithm, while Essex Police are planning to use an algorithm from Corsight.

Thompson has pledged to appeal the High Court ruling, calling the technology “stop and search on steroids.” Big Brother Watch has said  the fight against live facial recognition mass surveillance is not over.

​“No one should be treated like a criminal due to a computer error,” says Thompson. “I was compliant with the police but my bank cards and passport weren’t enough to convince the police the facial recognition tech was wrong.”

In their challenge, the duo claimed that LFR breaches privacy rights outlined in the European Convention of Human Rights. Their legal team argued that the rights to free expression and free assembly are also being infringed upon as police officers had “excessively broad” discretion, leading to a chilling effect on the right to protest, the BBC reports.

Another argument raised was that installing permanent LFR across London would make it impossible for Londoners to go about their daily lives without having their biometric data captured and stored. In addition, the technology would be deployed unevenly, with a disproportionate focus on London neighborhoods with predominantly ethnic minority communities.

Thompson’s case was backed by the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

During the trial, the Met Police maintained that LFR can spot people who would otherwise go undetected and that the technology helps the police with “minimal” invasions of privacy: The system automatically deletes data from people who are not on a watchlist.

Despite legal hurdles, police across the UK have been ramping up the use of facial recognition. In January, the UK Home Office announced adding 40 new LFR live facial recognition (LFR) vans as part of large-scale policing reforms.

Other police forces are dealing with their own false matches: Alvi Choudhury, a 26-year-old software engineer, has announced plans to sue the Thames Valley Police after facial recognition confused him with a burglar.

​The UK government has announced it is consulting on guidance that will define how police forces can use LFR. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it wants clearer rules for law enforcement agencies using facial recognition and other biometric tech that will build on the country’s existing data protection laws.

London Police to use CCTV and facial recognition against shoplifting

Meanwhile, the Met Police has announced a new initiative aimed at cracking down on retail crime.

The law enforcement agency has been piloting new technology that allows retailers to instantly submit reports and CCTV footage, enabling officers to identify repeat offenders using retrospective facial recognition and make arrests faster.

Testing has been ongoing in central London and in Levisham since January. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says that the technology is already showing great results.

“Advances in technology are a real game changer – allowing retailers and shop staff to report shoplifting incidents remotely using digital platforms and send evidence such as CCTV footage in real-time to help police identify culprits, make arrests, and secure prosecutions,” says Khan.

The test showed that one in five cases (21.4 percent) of retail crime are being solved, leading to  an arrest, charge or conviction. The Met Police’s previous average was 14 percent.

Currently, retailers are submitting only about 20 percent of shoplifting cases with CCTV evidence. In cases where footage is available, officers were able to identify around 80 percent of suspects by matching their faces to crime databases.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  lawsuits  |  live facial recognition  |  London Metropolitan Police  |  retail biometrics  |  surveillance