South Wales Police have revealed plans to deploy live facial recognition cameras in Cardiff during this year’s Six Nations rugby internationals.
The cameras will be placed at ‘key points’ across the city centre, and will alert officers to anyone who is on a predetermined watchlist.
The force claims that the cameras will help to ‘keep visitors safe’.
‘The expansion of facial recognition cameras around the city centre really enhances our ability to keep visitors safe from harm,’ said Trudi Meyrick, Assistant Chief Constable.
‘Our priority is to keep the public safe and this technology helps us achieve that.’
However, critics have raised serious concerns about the technology, and claim it will turn Cardiff into an ‘Orwellian zone of biometric surveillance’.
Madeleine Stone, Senior Advocacy Officer at Big Brother Watch, said: ‘Embedding facial recognition surveillance in a city-wide CCTV network represents a shocking expansion of police surveillance, and turns Cardiff into an Orwellian zone of biometric surveillance.
‘This unprecedented use of the technology could pave the way for the mass rollout of permanent facial recognition surveillance across the UK.’
South Wales Police have revealed plans to deploy live facial recognition cameras in Cardiff during this year’s Six Nations rugby internationals. The cameras will be placed at ‘key points’ across the city centre, and will alert officers to anyone who is on a predetermined watchlist
As the name suggests, live facial recognition, allows the police to recognise wanted individuals among a large crowd in real time. Pictured: live facial recognition cameras used in Croydon
As the name suggests, live facial recognition allows the police to recognise wanted individuals among a large crowd in real time.
Police use a series of cameras to record the faces of anyone who passes through a set zone.
An algorithm then compares the faces of those walking in front of the camera to a ‘watchlist’ of wanted criminals and an alert is generated if the AI spots a match.
According to South Wales Police, the watchlist includes individuals who are wanted for committing crime, who are banned from an area, or who pose a risk to the public.
The cameras look just like standard CCTV cameras, but do not record footage.
In the event of a ‘no match’, the data will be deleted immediately and automatically.
While the police hope that the cameras will help to keep the busy Six Nations crowds safe, not everyone is convinced about the technology.
‘Live facial recognition technology turns us into walking barcodes and makes us a nation of suspects,’ Ms Stone said.
The cameras look just like standard CCTV cameras, but do not record footage
As the name suggests, live facial recognition, allows the police to recognise wanted individuals among a large crowd in real time
‘This network of facial recognition cameras will make it impossible for Cardiff residents and visitors to opt-out of a biometric police identity check.
‘For the last three years, South Wales Police has not made a single arrest due to use of this technology at sporting events, yet the force continues to waste taxpayers’ money on this rights-abusing technology.
‘No other democracy in the world spies on its population with live facial recognition in this cavalier and chilling way.
‘South Wales Police must immediately stop this dystopian trial.’
In response to these concerns, ACC Meyrick said: ‘We understand the concerns which are raised about the use of facial recognition technology but it is important to remember that it has never resulted in a wrongful arrest and there have been no false alerts for several years as the technology and our understanding has evolved.’
Since 2015, several police forces across the UK have begun to use this technology in public places as part of targeted crackdowns and to police busy events.
However, London’s Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police have been among the keenest adopters of the technology.
Last year alone, South Wales Police deployed eight live facial recognition zones including at a Six Nations Game and a Bruce Springsteen concert.
In total, these deployments scanned the faces of 156,032 people but only led to a single arrest being made.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police deployed live facial recognition a staggering 73 times last year, recording 146,157 faces and leading to 209 arrests.
The police and Home Office argue that these large-scale surveillance operations are justified by their results.
For example, the Home Office notes that a wanted sex offender was sent to jail after facial recognition spotted them at the Coronation of King Charles.
A spokesperson for the National Police Chief’s Council told MailOnline: ‘Policing is in a challenging period and AI presents opportunities for forces to test new ideas, be creative and seek innovative solutions to help boost productivity and be more effective in tackling crime.’
