The Met will put the cameras in high-traffic areas like shopping malls, and they will be used for five or six hours at a time. If the system identifies a face as a match to one on a wanted list, police will ask the person for their identification. If they prove to be the person on the watch list, they will be arrested.
“As a modern police force, I believe that we have a duty to use new technologies to keep people safe in London,” said Nick Ephgrave, assistant commissioner with the Met, in a statement. “Every day, our police officers are briefed about suspects they should look out for; [facial recognition] improves the effectiveness of this tactic.”
Privacy advocates, on the other hand, are not happy about the cameras. “This decision represents an enormous expansion of the surveillance state and a serious threat to civil liberties in the UK,” said Big Brother Watch Director Silkie Carlo in an interview with local news. “This move instantly stains the new Government’s human rights record and we urge an immediate reconsideration.”
