Data protection / Police / Surveillance
Police use of facial recognition technology: What are my rights?
What is facial recognition technology? How is it used? What are my rights if I am identified using facial recognition technology?
Disclaimer: This article is for general information. It is not intended to be used as legal advice. See the ‘Taking Action‘ section below for further details about how to challenge the use of facial recognition technology by the police.
What is facial recognition technology?
Facial recognition is technology used by the police to identify someone from a digital facial image. It works by ‘mapping’ the facial features of people walking past facial recognition cameras, and matching them to images of people’s faces that are held on various databases accessed by the police.
How is it used?
Police forces often use ‘Live Facial Recognition’ technology (‘LFR’). LFR compares a live camera feed of thousands of faces in a specific area, against a predetermined watchlist to identify ‘people of interest’. Police officers then review the match and decide whether to take consequential action, which can include questioning the individual, carrying out a stop and search, or arresting them. ‘People of interest’ on these databases can include:
- individuals with outstanding warrants;
- individuals who are unlawfully at large (having escaped from lawful custody);
- individuals suspected of having committed crimes;
- individuals who may be in need of protection (e.g. missing persons);
- individuals whose presence at a particular event causes ‘particular concern’; and
- individuals who are vulnerable.
Police have used facial recognition to scan:
- fans at sporting events, e.g. football and rugby matches
- crowds at Notting Hill Carnival
- protesters
- festivalgoers and people attending music gigs
The police should ensure that members of the public are aware that facial recognition is in use in the area.
The police may use a van with facial recognition cameras installed on top. The van should be clearly labelled as using facial recognition technology, and the police should also put up signs in the area saying facial recognition technology is in use.
The police may also use what look like ordinary CCTV cameras to carry out facial recognition, mounted on structures or buildings. Again, they should still put up signs saying it is in use.
Police forces have been trialling ‘Operator-Initiated Facial Recognition’ technology which allows officers, through an app on a mobile phone, to take a photograph of a person’s face, and compare that photograph against a predetermined watchlist/database of images.
Some police forces also have software allowing the police to identify people against watchlists from any pictures and footage they can get their hands on – from CCTV cameras to what we post on our social media accounts. This is called ‘Retrospective Facial Recognition’ (also known as ‘Retroactive Facial Recognition’), because the images and videos already exist, rather than using face-scanning cameras in real time like with Live Facial Recognition.
Every police force should have publicly available information, setting out how they use facial recognition technology. For example, the Met Police has information available here.
What laws govern the use of facial recognition technology?
There are no specific laws or regulations governing the use of facial recognition technology. The police have general common law powers to prevent and detect crime.
However, when using facial recognition technology, the police must comply with data protection, human rights, and discrimination law. The use of facial recognition technology must be for a policing purpose and be necessary, proportionate, and not used in a discriminatory way.
What happens if I’m identified by facial recognition technology? What are my rights?
If the police find a match using facial recognition, they can decide whether to take consequential action against that person – this can include questioning them, carrying out a stop and search, or arresting them. Whatever action the police take, they still have to exercise their powers lawfully. You still have rights in these situations, as set out below:
In most cases you do not have to answer police questions.
If you’re asked a question that you don’t want or don’t have to answer, you could:
- ask if you are being detained, and leave if the answer is “no”
- say “no comment”
- simply stay quiet
EXCEPTION: Section 50 of the Police Reform Act 2002 allows the police to ask for your name and address if they believe you are, or have been, engaging in anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour is behaviour that causes, or is likely to cause, “harassment, alarm or distress”. It’s a criminal offence if you don’t give your name and address, or if you give false or inaccurate information, if you have been asked to do so under section 50.
For more information, see our webpage on ‘Do I have to answer police questions?’
For suspicion-based stop and searches, the police have to have reasonable grounds to suspect you are carrying stolen property or ‘prohibited articles’. The stop and search would be unlawful if the police fail to set out GOWISELY – an acronym which sets out your rights if you’ve been stopped and searched:
- G: Grounds for suspicion. For suspicion-based searches, the police must clearly explain the basis for their reasonable suspicion.
- O: Object of the search. The police must clearly explain what they are looking for.
- W: Warrant card. The police must show you this if you ask for it, or if they aren’t wearing a uniform.
- I: Identity of the police officer or officers. The police officers involved in stopping and searching you must give you their name and shoulder number.
- S: Station. The police must tell you which police station they work at.
- E: Entitlement to a search record. The police must provide you with a copy of the search record or, if this is not practicable, provide information on how you can get a copy.
- L: Legal power used. The police must tell you what legal power they are using to stop and search you.
- Y: ‘You are detained for the purposes of a search’. The police must tell you this. ‘Detained’ means you are not free to leave until they tell you.
However, the police also have powers to carry out a stop and search without having any reasonable suspicion, where:
- there is an authorisation in place under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
- there is an authorisation in place under section 11 of the Public Order Act 2023.
- you have a Serious Violence Reduction Order made against you.
The police may use these suspicionless stop and search powers in combination with the deployment of facial recognition technology, for example at a protest or following a violent incident in a particular area.
For more information, see our webpage on stop and search.
The police can carry out an arrest if they have an arrest warrant or if officers have reasonable grounds to suspect the person identified is responsible for the commission of an offence and there is justification for an arrest.
If you are arrested, the police must:
- tell you that you are being arrested and are not free to leave; and
- explain why they are arresting you.
If they do not give you this information as soon as is practicable, the arrest is unlawful.
If you are arrested, you should contact a criminal defence solicitor as soon as possible.
For more information, see our webpage on police powers of arrest.
What if the police mistakenly identify me?
If you’re stopped, the police must give you a chance to prove you’re not the person they’re looking for, to clear up mistaken identifications or misunderstandings.
Anyone who believes that they have been misidentified by facial recognition technology, including where it has then led to an arrest or stop and search should seek legal advice (see below).
Can I cover my face in an area where the police are using facial recognition technology?
There is no general power for the police to force people to make their face available to be filmed using facial recognition technology. You are therefore entitled to refuse to have your face scanned. You are entitled to cover your face so that a camera cannot capture an image of it.
EXCEPTION: If there is an order in place under section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (“a section 60AA Order”), the police can require you to remove a face covering. It is a criminal offence to refuse to do so, punishable by up to one month’s imprisonment or a fine of up to £1,000, or both. The police must reasonably believe that an item is being worn wholly or partly as a disguise (i.e. to stop you from being identified) or that you intend to use it as a disguise and not, for example, if your only reason for wearing the item is as part of your religious beliefs, such as a niqab.
Can I walk away to avoid facial recognition cameras?
It is not a criminal offence to avoid the line of sight of a facial recognition camera, by turning away or going a different route. Just because you are avoiding facial recognition cameras, this cannot, by itself, give the police a reason to arrest or stop and search you.
Can I block a facial recognition camera?
Physically obstructing a facial recognition camera, for example, by using your body or an object, to make sure that the camera cannot identify you or others, may constitute the criminal offence of ‘obstructing a police officer’ under section 89 of the Police Act 1996. To be obstructing a police officer, you must be deliberately making it more difficult for the police to carry out their lawful duty.
Damaging a facial recognition camera may count as obstructing a police officer and criminal damage, which is a criminal offence under section1(1) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971.
Taking action
There are a number of actions you can take to challenge the use of facial recognition by the police:
Make a complaint
If you have been misidentified by facial recognition technology, believe that your image was taken unlawfully or otherwise have any other concerns about the deployment of facial recognition technology, you can:
- Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the independent authority for upholding and promoting people’s information and data privacy rights.
- Make a complaint to the local police force using the facial recognition technology. See our webpage on how to make a police complaint to find out more about how you can do this.
Legal challenge
If you have been impacted by the use of facial recognition technology, you can also seek legal advice, from a lawyer specialising in human rights and civil liberties, about the possibility of bringing a legal claim against the police.
Join Liberty’s campaign against facial recognition
We are campaigning against the use of facial recognition by the police. Find out more and join our campaign to oppose the use of facial recognition technology, and call for safeguards to protect our data privacy and human rights here.
Liberty are also interested in hearing from you if you have been directly affected by the use of facial recognition technology by the police. You can email us on legalinformation@libertyhumanrights.org.uk
What are my rights on this?
Find out more about your rights and how the Human Rights Act protects them
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