App lets police identify suspects in street

There are concerns human rights will be breached as police forces in Wales become the first to launch a facial recognition app in the UK.

It will allow officers to use their phones to confirm someone’s identity.

It could be used on people who have died or are unconscious, as well as people who are unable to or refuse to provide details.

Jake Hurfurt, of civil liberties and privacy group Big Brother Watch, said the app “creates a dangerous imbalance between the public’s rights with the police’s powers”.

The app, known as Operator Initiated Facial Recognition (OIFR), has already been tested by 70 officers across south Wales and will be used by South Wales Police and Gwent Police.

Police said its use on unconscious or dead people would help officers to identify them promptly so their family can be reached with care and compassion.

In cases where someone is wanted for a criminal offence, the forces said it would secure their quick arrest and detention.

Police also said cases of mistaken identity would be easily resolved without the need to visit a police station or custody suite.

Police said photos taken using the app would not be retained, and those taken in private places such as houses, schools, medical facilities and places of worship would only be used in situations relating to a risk of significant harm.

But Mr Hurfurt said: “In Britain, none of us has to identify ourselves to police without very good reason but this unregulated surveillance tech threatens to take that fundamental right away.”

Charlie Whelton, of another civil liberties group, Liberty, said the technology was a “deeply invasive breach of our privacy rights, data protection laws and equality laws”.

“We urgently need the government to introduce safeguards to protect us as we go about our daily lives, rather than allowing the police to continue to experiment at the expense of our civil liberties.”

The software takes a “probe image”, typically a face captured on CCTV or from a mobile phone, and measures the facial features – our biometric data.

It then compares that with all custody images on the database shared by police forces.

In August 2020, the Court of Appeal ruled the use of automatic facial recognition (AFR) technology by South Wales Police unlawful following a legal challenge by civil rights group Liberty and Ed Bridges.

But the court also found its use was proportionate interference with human rights as the benefits outweighed the impact on Mr Bridges.

Mr Bridges had said being identified by AFR caused him distress.

Assistant Chief Constable Trudi Meyrick of South Wales Police said the new app was able to enhance police “ability to accurately confirm a person’s identity”.

She said: “This technology doesn’t replace traditional means of identifying people and our police officers will only be using it in instances where it is both necessary and proportionate to do so, with the aim of keeping that particular individual, or the wider public, safe.”

Assistant Chief Constable Nick McLain of Gwent Police called embracing the technology an “integral part of effective policing and public safety”.

“The use of this technology always involves human decision-making and oversight, ensuring that it is used lawfully, ethically, and in the public interest,” he said.

“We have a robust scrutiny process in place to ensure accountability and testing found no evidence of racial, age or gender bias.”