Very excitingly, police have arrested 103 wanted criminals since October in a pilot programme for live facial recognition technology (LFR). The cameras were mounted on lamp posts and other fixtures in Croydon and the live footage was monitored remotely. As a result, police have picked up a man wanted on suspicion of kidnap; and a sex offender suspected of breaching his prevention order. All good, no?
It’s not just Croydon. A few months ago, I found that my local council, Hammersmith and Fulham, already has more police cameras and facial recognition technology than anywhere in the country and acquired even more after the Council has voted to spend more than £3million in funding to "enhance" the CCTV network. The borough already had more cameras per person than anywhere in the UK with more than 2,000 working already.
