Western Australia police launch trial of NEC’s live facial recognition

Police in Western Australia are launching a trial of live facial recognition technology in public spaces. A post on the Facebook account of the Western Australia Police Force says live FRT will be used to help prevent and detect crime, locate wanted offenders and support vulnerable members of the community. NEC is the biometric algorithm supplier.

“The technology uses visible cameras positioned near marked police vehicles in designated public spaces,” say the police (although the trial only includes one police van). “It can assist officers by providing real-time alerts when individuals on a strictly controlled police alert list are detected. This may include people wanted for serious offences, reportable offenders, missing persons, and individuals subject to lawful restrictions.”

Police insist that live FRT “is not about mass surveillance.”

“Importantly, images of community members who are not on the alert list are automatically pixelated in real time and are not stored.”

The use of live facial recognition in policing has been hotly debated in the UK, where deployments across seven municipalities have seen the tech installed at train stations, carnivals and city centers. Various departments have used facial recognition algorithms from Cognitec, NEC and Idemia – all of which have also worked closely with Australian law enforcement, airports and government.

The post from Western Australian police does not specify a provider, but news photos show officers positioned beside an NEC logo, and vendor whose software the Privacy Impact Assessment was completed for. Further, an FAQ from the Western Australian Government notes the algorithms have been assessed by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory and the U.S.’ NIST. While Cognitec and Idemia’s algorithms have been assessed by the NPL, NEC is the only provider known to have submitted live facial recognition to the body for evaluation.

This article was updated at 3:39pm Eastern on June 22, 2026 to include additional disclosures by the Western Australian government.

Article Topics

Australia  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  law enforcement  |  live facial recognition  |  NEC  |  NeoFace