Live facial recognition cameras may become ‘commonplace’ as police use soars
Guardian7 days
In an era of rising crime and stretched police resources, live facial recognition is proving to be a vital tool for modern policing. In 2024 alone, it helped the Met arrest hundreds — including a known sex offender caught breaching child protection rules. Unlike traditional surveillance, LFR allows police to identify offenders in real time and even retrospectively, flagging threats that might otherwise slip through the cracks. As the tech expands to vans, fixed cameras, and major public spaces, it’s about time it became “commonplace” in the fight to keep our streets safe.
As live facial recognition edges toward becoming “commonplace” across UK streets and stores, serious concerns grow. Police scan millions of faces with little oversight, risking wrongful arrests due to high error rates — especially for people of color and women. In supermarkets, shoppers face secret watchlists without consent, turning everyday spaces into biometric traps. With no clear laws governing use or accountability, this unchecked expansion of LFR tech threatens privacy, fairness, public trust, and risks normalizing dystopian mass surveillance. It must be stopped.
Facial recognition tech is evolving fast, but laws aren’t keeping pace, risking unchecked privacy violations and bias. Without strong, clear regulations, this powerful tool threatens civil liberties — especially for marginalized communities disproportionately affected by errors and misuse. We must demand laws that enforce transparency, limit data retention, mandate operator training, and protect individuals before technology outstrips our ability to control it.
There is a 50% chance that an international AI regulatory agency, akin to the IAEA, for oversight of transformative AI systems, will be established before 2030, according to Metaculus community prediction.