Minsters call for live facial recognition in everyday use
In a document for the surveillance camera commissioner, government ministers are pushing for live facial recognition (LFR) technology to become part of everyday policing.
That includes linking LFR to body-worn cameras, allowing police offices to scan the biometrics of people’s faces while they’re out on patrol and then match them against a criminal watchlist.
By making this technology available every day, ministers believe the police will be able to catch criminals sooner and make a major dent in driving down serious crime figures.
High-profile trials show positive results
The police has already trialled the technology at high-profile events like football matches and the recent Coronation.
In the case of the Coronation, The Met set up three cameras across three different sites, scanning 68,000 faces against a watchlist of 10,451 suspects. They got back two alerts – one which led to an arrest and the other led to no further action.
But The Met reported no false alerts, which helps to soften the concerns around ethical biases – something the surveillance camera commissioner, Prof Fraser Sampson, touched on when discussing the proposed changes.
“The technology will be capable of doing many things, not all of which the public would want. In China the algorithm can pick up ethnicity. It will be able to estimate age; some manufacturers claim it can estimate someone’s mood or state of anxiety.”
No one was targeted unfairly for any reason at the King’s Coronation. But it’s important authorities monitor the technology closely to make sure it’s interpreting faces with an impartial eye.
New study looks at laws to protect human rights
For these technologies to function ethically in everyday policing, the government has to make regulatory reforms. As Sampson explains, the integrity of the police depends on it: “If the use is unconstrained then no one is in any position to give guarantees about what comparisons LFR is making, what conclusions it is drawing and what the consequences are for you. Policing is based on consent and trust and confidence is vital to policing.”
Edinburgh Napier University and the Scottish government conducted a study in February to help develop new regulations. It focused on reassessing LFR in a way that prioritises human rights and approaches laws ethically.
The study’s conclusion encourages the government to introduce new statutory codes of practice into UK law before developing predictive policing any further.
For example, one recommendation is to introduce an “ethical and human rights impact assessment’. It would mean police forces having to formally set out the business case for using any new technology, and publishing the legal basis to the public. It would also mean setting up a complaint’s procedure too, keeping the process as thorough and transparent as possible.
Government bodies need to line up efforts and track progress
These technologies are here to stay, and the tools have huge potential in preventing crime and making the UK a safer place. So government bodies and police forces are right to embrace them.
But their integration has to be paired with a good dose of caution. That includes listening to all the right recommendations, and working together to monitor these technologies to make sure they’re performing effectively and to the highest ethical standard.
Sources
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/police-scotland-humza-yousaf-justice-secretary-scottish-b2287469.html
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/16/ministers-calling-for-facial-recognition-technology-in-police-bodycams
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