British Police Extend FRT Operations Overseas to Nab Football Hooligan

British law enforcement authorities have, for the first time, used facial recognition at an overseas sports event to ban a football hooligan.

Josh Waugh allegedly broke the nose and jaw of a fellow England fan at the Euro 2024 football event in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. A witness was able to take a photo of Waugh, which was passed along to police. Agents with the UK Football Policing Unit and Cheshire police then worked with German police officers to identify the assailant using retrospective facial recognition technology.

According to The Times, a mass messaging app called SOLV also played a key role in the investigation. SOLV is a communication tool that allows authorities to broadcast messages to specific, targeted communities, and enables two-way communication. Police sent out an appeal for witnesses that returned some 54,000 hits.

“Thousands of people attend football matches every week, many of them travelling long distances, so trying to identify and locate a suspect on the ground can sometimes be difficult,” explained Mark Roberts, the Chief Constable for Cheshire and head of the UK’s football policing group. “However, systems such as [retrospective facial recognition] and SOLV allow us to identify offenders even when they’re hundreds of miles away, so we can ensure that those who do offend are arrested and held accountable for their actions.”

German police authorities have not yet taken any action against Waugh, but a British court agreed to implement a Football Banning Order after hearing the police make their case. Waugh is one of 11 offenders who have been issued such bans after attending the tournament in Germany.

Source: The Times

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September 24, 2024 – by Alex Perala