Essex Police has made 57 arrests across 22 live facial-recognition deployments conducted after the force resumed using Corsight AI’s system following an independent evaluation, according to new figures from the vendor.
Corsight says the deployments screened more than 353,000 faces and produced 173 positive alerts and 143 positive interventions. It reported no false positives while the system operated with a matching threshold of 55. The company did not provide a deployment-by-deployment table with the release, so the aggregate figures remain vendor-reported.
Positive alerts, interventions and arrests are not interchangeable measures. An alert is a candidate match, an intervention is an officer interaction, and an arrest can follow only after police confirm the person and identify legal grounds for taking action.
Essex Police separately says its live facial-recognition program has resulted in more than 170 arrests since deployments began in summer 2024. Its public data records the location, watchlist size, alerts, engagements, outcomes and incorrect alerts for individual operations. The totals cover a broader period than Corsight’s post-evaluation figures.
The force paused deployments earlier this year while accuracy and potential bias were examined. The Information Commissioner’s Office subsequently published findings from its audit of police facial recognition, and the National Physical Laboratory evaluated the Corsight system before operations resumed.
During a deployment, cameras create biometric templates from faces passing through the monitored area and compare them with a police watchlist. An alert is reviewed by officers, who decide whether to engage the person and what action, if any, to take. A match is therefore an investigative lead rather than an automatic arrest decision.
Essex Police says templates for people who do not generate an alert are deleted immediately and are not retained. CCTV footage may be kept for up to 31 days, while watchlist images and data related to an alert are handled under separate retention rules.
The latest totals extend a series of reported operational results. Earlier deployments identified people linked to robbery, assault and other offences, including individuals wanted for failing to appear in court.
Essex plans to continue using the technology to locate people with outstanding warrants and support active investigations. Its published schedule lists further deployments through early August, including operations in Chelmsford, Southend, Colchester and other locations.
Sources: Corsight AI, Essex Police, Essex Police deployment data
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
