The Metropolitan Police deployed live facial recognition as part of a protest policing operation for the first time on Saturday, May 16, during rival demonstrations in central London. Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman, who briefed reporters on May 13, said: “This Saturday is also the first time we will be using live facial recognition as part of a protest policing operation.”
The day brought two large demonstrations to the capital: the Unite the Kingdom rally organized by Tommy Robinson, estimated by police at around 60,000 people, and the Nakba 78 pro-Palestinian rally, estimated at around 20,000. The Met ran what it described as one of its most significant public-order operations in years, with about 4,000 officers on duty, including 660 brought in from other forces in England and Wales under mutual aid, at an estimated cost of 4.5 million pounds.
The Met said the live facial recognition cameras were positioned in the London borough of Camden, in an area expected to be used by people attending the Unite the Kingdom event, and that the technology would not operate within the assembly or rally points of either protest or on the march routes themselves. The cameras compared passers-by against a specific watchlist, and the force said biometrics of people who did not generate an alert were deleted within seconds and could not be recovered.
Police figures cited in reporting from the day put total arrests at 43 by early Saturday evening, including 11 for hate crime offences, with three arrests resulting from the live facial recognition deployment.
Civil liberties groups objected to the use of the technology in a protest setting. Jake Hurfurt, Head of Research and Investigations at Big Brother Watch, said: “Deploying live facial recognition at protests in this country is a frightening escalation. A biometric identity check cannot become a prerequisite for free speech in this country.” The Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner, Professor William Webster, warned that forces could face legal challenges over the technology and that it is not foolproof.
The protest deployment extends a period of expansion for the force’s facial recognition program. It follows the Met’s six-month static-camera pilot in Croydon and an April High Court ruling upholding the Met’s LFR policy, a decision the claimants have said they will appeal.
Sources: Metropolitan Police, ITV News, Big Brother Watch
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
