Liberty: Facial recognition consultation opportunity for safeguards

Liberty has called on the Government to introduce strict safeguards on police use of facial recognition as Ministers launch a consultation on how police use the technology.

The human rights organisation, which won the first legal challenge against police use of the tech, has responded to the Home Office announcement on the consultation and urged the Government to use it as an opportunity to protect the public with safeguards and halt the expansion of police use of the technology.

Earlier this week Liberty Investigates, the organisation’s editorially independent investigative journalism unit, revealed that hundreds of children have been included on police watchlists for facial recognition deployments – with minors as young as 12 targeted by the tech.

Safeguards Liberty is calling for include:  

• independent sign off before facial recognition is used
• police to only be able to use facial recognition technology to:
• search for missing persons or victims of abduction, human trafficking and sexual exploitation
• prevent an imminent threat to life or people’s safety
• search for people suspected of committing a serious criminal offence
• watchlists to only contain images strictly relevant to the purposes above
• police to give the public at least 14-days advance warning of live facial recognition deployments, except when there is an urgent need.

Akiko Hart, Liberty director, said: 

“The public is finally getting a chance to have its say on this surveillance tech, but it’s disappointing the Home Office is starting a consultation with a pledge to ramp up its use.

“Facial recognition cameras are powerful pieces of new technology that enable the police to track and monitor every one of us while we go about our day to day lives. Police forces have been able to make up their own rules for too long – and just this week we learned these cameras have been used to target children as young as 12.

“The Government must halt the rapid rollout of facial recognition technology and make sure there are safeguards in place to protect each of us and prioritise our rights – something we know the public wants.”