UK turns to better CCTV, facial recognition use for national knife crime strategy

The UK government has presented a new national strategy to tackle knife crime, which includes upgrading CCTV coverage to minimize blind spots and improve the use of retrospective facial recognition (RFR).​

The“Protecting Lives, Building Hope” plan aims to halve knife crime over the next 10 years by increasing police deployment and targeting the most affected areas.

Last year, the Home Office invested £5.5 million (US$7.4 million) in a pilot program to detect and prevent knife crime in 11 areas with the highest crime rates. The initiative included visible patrols, upgrading CCTV and face biometrics systems, and using youth workers to reach out to young people at risk.

This year, the government plans to allocate £26.25 million ($35.3 million) through its Knife Crime Concentrations Fund to expand the program in 27 “hot spot” areas, which together account for 90 percent of all knife crime in England and Wales. The areas were determined by using the national knife crime mapping tool.

“We are putting 13,000 additional police personnel in neighborhood roles, strengthening police powers, targeting police activity where knife crime happens and investing in technology to catch more knife offenders,” the strategy document notes.

The strategy is also hoping to improve the identification of knife robbers: In 50 percent of knife-enabled robberies nationwide, the perpetrator is never identified.

“Close, regular scrutiny of policing data, blended with frontline expertise is identifying ways to improve how CCTV can be used to improve the detection rates and bring more offenders to justice. Successful methods will be shared nationally,” says the document.

Railway areas will also receive £17 million of investment over the next three years to improve CCTV connectivity and keep passengers safe from knife crime. The British Transport Police’s budget will increase to £481.5 million ($648.6 million) by fiscal year 2028-2029, allowing for more police officers to be hired.

In January, the British Transport Police kicked off a six-month live facial recognition (LFR) pilot to monitor train stations.

Knife crime was also cited as a reason for the UK government to invest in four more LFR vans almost two years ago.

The new national anti-knife crime strategy will be supported through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Safer Streets Challenges. The program aims to fund new research and innovation across universities, the private and public sectors, and communities, and is backed by £50 million in funding.

The initiative focuses on five public safety challenges, including knife crime, violence against women and girls, trust in policing and the judiciary. Another project is building an AI-powered national crime map based on the Concentrations of Crime Data Challenge launched in August last year.

Earlier this year, the UK announced large-scale policing reforms, including new investments in AI and increased deployments of Live Facial Recognition (LFR). The country also plans to invest £115 million (US$157.3 million) over the next three years into a National Centre for AI in Policing as part of the “most significant modernization of policing in nearly 200 years,” according to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

Article Topics

British Transport Police  |  cctv  |  facial recognition  |  Home Office Biometrics (HOB)  |  surveillance  |  United Kingdom