By Ken Macon – Reclaim The Net
Police forces across England are preparing to expand their use of live facial recognition (LFR) surveillance as the government moves forward with a national policy to guide deployments.
Policing minister Sarah Jones confirmed during the Labour Party conference that formal guidance is in development to instruct officers on when and where the technology should be used.
Funding from the Home Office has already been allocated to support LFR operations in seven additional regions: Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley, and Hampshire.
Government officials have pointed to early deployments in London and Cardiff as successful, citing arrests.
Reflecting on those results, Jones stated:
“What we’ve seen in Croydon is that it has worked. We just need to make sure it’s clear what the technology is going to be useful for going forward. If we are going to use it more, if we do want to roll it out across the country, what are the parameters? Live facial recognition is a really good tool that has led to arrests that wouldn’t have come otherwise, and it’s very, very valuable.”
The software links live camera feeds to a watchlist of people wanted by police. When someone passes a camera, facial measurements are analyzed and compared against the database. If a match is found, officers are alerted to intervene.
However, the use of LFR has expanded sharply. In London, the number of people included on watchlists has more than doubled between 2020 and 2025.
The volume of facial scans during deployments has also grown, with single-day scans now reaching into the tens of thousands.
The Metropolitan Police insists it has safeguards in place and maintains that data from individuals not on a watchlist is deleted immediately.
A Met Police spokesperson said:
“The Met is committed to making London safer, using data and technology to locate offenders that pose the greatest risk to our communities. The increase of LFR is driven by its proven impact and success, with more than 1,000 dangerous offenders off London’s streets, including those wanted for rape and domestic abuse. We have strong safeguards in place when operating LFR – for example, if a member of the public walks past an LFR camera and is not wanted by the police, their biometrics are immediately and permanently deleted.”
There is currently no specific law governing LFR. Police forces operate under internal policies, and oversight remains limited. Despite this, both the Metropolitan and South Wales Police have signaled plans to install permanent systems in public areas.
A community volunteer wrongly flagged by the technology is now taking the Met to court.
Shaun Thompson, 39, was stopped outside London Bridge station after cameras misidentified him as a suspect.
Returning from a shift with Street Fathers, a group focused on youth mentorship and knife crime prevention, Thompson was detained for nearly 30 minutes, threatened with arrest, and asked for fingerprints, despite showing multiple forms of ID.
“I was coming home from a street patrol in Croydon, when I was pulled out of the street at London Bridge due to facial recognition,” he said.
“They were telling me I was a wanted man… even though I knew and they knew the computer had got it wrong.”
The High Court has granted permission for his lawsuit to proceed, marking the first legal challenge of its kind against LFR in the UK.
The case, supported by Big Brother Watch, will be heard in January 2026.