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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Phoebe Davis and Daniel Boffey

Trial of live facial recognition in London stations leads to a false positive and no arrests

People on the platform at King's Cross railway station in London
More than half a million faces were scanned in some of the capital’s busiest transport hubs during the trial. Photograph: Mike Kemp/In Pictures/Getty Images

A six-month trial of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in London’s railway stations that cost more than £320,000 and almost 100 hours of police officers’ time led to one false match against a watchlist of suspects and no arrests.

More than half a million faces were scanned between February and July this year in some of the capital’s busiest transport hubs during the British Transport Police (BTP) trial of the surveillance technology, which aimed to help catch offenders and people breaching court orders.

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