Cambridgeshire Police to Deploy Live Facial Recognition in Peterborough City Centre for First Time

Cambridgeshire Constabulary announced this week that it will deploy live facial recognition technology in Peterborough city centre on Saturday, May 16, marking the first time the technology will have been used in any city centre location in the county. The first operational deployment is scheduled along Long Causeway and Broadway from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., using equipment borrowed from Bedfordshire Police, one of the seven forces that received dedicated LFR capability under the national rollout in August 2025.

The system works by comparing facial images captured from a live camera feed against a pre-prepared watchlist in real time, converting facial features into a mathematical representation and checking for possible matches. Watchlist categories include suspects wanted for criminal offences, individuals with court-issued arrest warrants, and high-risk offenders subject to strict legal notification requirements.

On data retention, the force states that biometric data of individuals who do not match the watchlist is automatically deleted immediately and cannot be recovered. Where the system generates a possible alert, that data is automatically deleted within 24 hours unless needed for a criminal investigation. CCTV footage is deleted within 31 days unless legally required to be retained.

Oversight mechanisms described by the force include review of all alerts by specially trained officers before any action is taken, scrutiny by an ethics panel, oversight by the Police and Crime Commissioner, publication of results following each deployment, and advance public notice via the force’s website and social media, with narrow exceptions for operational security. Locations are to be marked with signage and QR codes linking to information about the technology.

The force has addressed concerns about bias by citing independent testing by the National Physical Laboratory, which it says shows low false positive rates and no statistically significant racial or gender bias in the current system, while acknowledging historical criticism about gender and ethnic bias in facial recognition technology. Cambridgeshire Constabulary said it would be “open and transparent in the development, deployment and use of LFR technology” and emphasized the need to retain community confidence as the tool is rolled out.

The Peterborough deployment is part of the broader expansion enabled by the UK’s national LFR van rollout in August 2025, when the government distributed ten live facial recognition vehicles across seven forces. The pattern mirrors Hampshire’s first LFR deployment in September 2024, where a constabulary new to the technology ran a trial across multiple city-centre locations before committing to regular operations. Cambridgeshire has indicated plans to extend LFR use beyond Peterborough into other parts of the county over time.

Sources: Cambs News, Peterborough Today, Fenland Citizen

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By Ali Nassar-Smith