Facial recognition cameras doubled in London despite 'dystopian' warning

The Met’s facial recognition vans are going to be deployed more throughout London (Picture: PA)

Facial recognition cameras are being doubled in London,despite campaigners warning the move is the first step towards ‘a dystopian nightmare’.

The Metropolitan Police announced cameras will be deployed 10 times a week across five days – more than double the current usage – to scan faces and match them to a criminal database.

Most cameras are attached to vans,watching shoppers in busy parts of London such as Westfield Stratford come and go from Starbucks and Superdrug.

They were also deployed at the King Charles’s coronation and other major events like Notting Hill Carnival.

Despite the use of live facial recognition (LFR) leading to 1,000 arrests at 773 charges,campaigners are concerned the UK’s capital is entering a new era of total surveillance.

Are there any permanent facial recognition cameras?

A Metropolitan Police officer demonstrates the smartphone application used by the Met’s live facial recognition technology in Croydon,south London (Picture: PA)

The increase comes just months after it was announced Croydon is set to see the city’s,and the rest of the democratic world’s,first permanent LFR placed to scan faces and match them to a criminal database.

They will sit attached to lampposts or buildings on pedestrianised streets,and be just a short walk away from where schoolgirl Elianne Andam was stabbed to death outside the Whitgift Centre.

There is relief among residents and shoppers,who hope the cameras will help bring down the rate of crime,keeping them up at night.

Just last year,Croydon was named as the violence hotspot of London – with more than 10,000 violent crimes recorded in a single 12-month period.

Madeleine Stone said she saw a pregnant woman held against a wall after being flagged on facial recognition cameras (Picture: w8media)

Akosua Murphy,60,has lived in the borough for 17 years,is relieved more is being done to make the area safe once again.

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The cleaning lady told Metro: ‘Every day I pray my grandchildren come home safe,crime is out of control – we saw what happened to Elianne Adnam and she was just an innocent girl.

‘I used to work at East Croydon station,and I’ve seen young people stabbing each other.

‘It’s only getting worse,the high street is a mess.’

Will LFR cameras help bring crime rates down?

But are these cameras going to be the saving grace of one of London’s most crime-riddled areas? Don’t hold your breath,says Big Brother Watch.

In February facial recognition software was installed across Cardiff for the Six Nations games.

Despite scanning 162,680 faces,not a single arrest was made,according to the organisation.

Big Brother Watch frequently visits Croydon,to watch over how police were using the technology. And what they saw wasn’t a sign of good things to come.

The Metropolitan Police deploying the use of live facial recognition technology in Croydon (Picture: PA)

Shannon Kirwin said Croydon has deteriorated over the last 10 years (Picture: w8media)

What are the concerns over use of LFR?

Madeleine Stone,a senior advocacy officer at the organisation,told Metro the law needs to catch up with the technology first,as there is no legislation governing the use of facial recognition cameras.

‘The police have essentially been left off the leash and can do what they want with this,’ Madeleine said.

‘Everyone gets something wrong sometimes,but what happens when the algorithm gets it wrong? Who is responsible then?’

Last year,a legal challenge was launched against the police after an anti-knife crime community worker was wrongly flagged and detained by police following misidentification.

What is Live Facial Recognition?

The Metropolitan Police say they use Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology to prevent and detect crime and find wanted criminals.When people pass through an area with a camera,their images are streamed directly to the LFR system and compared to a watchlist.It can also help establish who a person is if they are unable to communicate who they are.LFR is often used at large events or in busy areas,typically on top of vans driven around by police.It was first used in England and Wales at the 2017 UEFA Champions League final in Cardiff.Local musician Christian added the crime levels in the area ‘is getting ridiculous’ (Picture: w8media)Shaun Thompson was wrongly flagged as a wanted person on the Metropolitan Police’s facial recognition database outside of London Bridge station.He was held by officers for almost 30 minutes,who repeatedly demanded scans of his fingerprints and threatened him with arrest,despite him showing multiple identity documents further evidencing that he was not the individual on the facial recognition database. Peaceful protesters and those on mental health watch lists also flagged in the systems.Madeleine said: ‘We are the first democratic country in the world to do this. It is a dark path we are going down to become a surveillance state.’

How has London reacted?

Organisations have dubbed the move ‘a dystopian nightmare’ (Picture: PA)But for Londoners,their priority is not protecting their privacy,but wanting crime to go down.Shannon Kirwin,20,helps run her family’s food van Old Skool Food,said she welcomes the crime reduction after seeing so many youths ‘go for each other’.She told Metro: ‘I have sat in this food van,and I have seen gangs just pull out weapons on each other right in front of me – the place has gone down massively over the last decade.‘But all the ones who are committing crimes are wearing balaclavas and face coverings,is there even any point to the cameras if they can’t see through that.’Local musician Christian added the crime levels in the area ‘is getting ridiculous’.He said: ‘I think it’s a good thing. This place is no longer a nice place. If you haven’t done anything wrong,there’s no need to be worried.’London’s police chief Sir Mark Rowley insisted the technology will be responsibly used.He said: ‘We’re only using it to look for serious offenders like wanted offenders and registered sex offenders.‘We routinely put it out there and capture multiple serious offenders in one go,many of whom have committed serious offences against women or children,or people who are wanted for armed robbery.‘It’s a fantastic piece of technology. It’s very responsibly used,and that’s why most of the public support it.’Mitch Carr,the Met’s neighbourhood policing superintendent for south London,wrote to community leaders earlier in March to announce the move.He said: ‘I am currently working with the central team to install fixed LFR cameras in Croydon town centre. This will mean our use of LFR technology will be far more embedded as a ‘business as usual’ approach rather than relying on the availability of the LFR vans that are in high demand across London.‘It will remain the case that the cameras are only switched on when officers are deployed on the ground ready to respond to alerts.‘The end result will see cameras covering a defined area and will give us much more flexibility around the days and times we can run the operations.’