Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has begun deploying Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology, utilizing two Home Office-supplied vans to scan for individuals on watchlists in areas with high footfall and at major public events. The force states the technology will be used to prevent crime, find wanted criminals, and safeguard vulnerable people, but the rollout comes just months after the GMP was officially reprimanded by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for serious data handling failures.
The LFR vans, set for their first deployment in Sale town centre on October 21 and 23, will focus cameras on specific areas or crowds. Specialist software then creates a biometric map of each face detected and compares it against a pre-prepared, “bespoke” watchlist of persons of interest. If the system generates a potential match, an alert is sent to an engagement team of officers on the ground, who will then verify the identity and make a policing decision. GMP has assured the public that if there is no match, the biometric data is “automatically and immediately deleted”.
The force has emphasized the transparency and ethical oversight of the deployment, noting that the use of LFR was endorsed by the Greater Manchester Independent Police Ethics Committee in August 2024. Assistant Chief Constable Rick Jackson stated that there are “strict criteria around the necessity and proportionality” of its use and that the technology is a “precise and targeted tool,” not a form of mass surveillance. This mirrors the approach taken by other UK forces, such as the Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police, which have been using LFR since 2017.
However, the deployment’s timing is notable. In June 2025, the ICO issued a formal reprimand to GMP for “serious shortcomings in how they handle CCTV footage” after the force lost two hours of video of a person held in custody and was unable to recover it. The ICO’s investigation found a lack of clear policies and a misunderstanding among staff regarding responsibility for data handling. The incident raised significant questions about the force’s ability to manage sensitive data, a concern that is now amplified by the introduction of a system that processes large volumes of sensitive biometric data in real time. While GMP has since implemented clearer retention policies, the recent failure casts a shadow over its assurances of responsible LFR data management.
This situation highlights a central tension in the debate over police use of facial recognition. Law enforcement agencies argue that LFR is a vital tool for improving efficiency and public safety, allowing them to identify suspects and find missing persons far more quickly than traditional methods. As ACC Jackson noted, it can “free up officers to respond to emergencies” and patrol communities.
The GMP case demonstrates that possessing advanced surveillance technology is not enough; the organizational processes and safeguards governing its use are just as, if not more, critical. The force’s commitment to public transparency with the LFR vans is a positive step, but it will need to demonstrate consistently flawless data handling to regain the full trust of the public and privacy advocates following its recent, high-profile failure.
Sources: Greater Manchester Police, ITV News Granada
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
