Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police forces in England and Wales were using facial recognition software as of January 2019.

Facial recognition software takes two main forms. The first compares an image of an unknown person (for example caught on CCTV committing a crime, reviewed after the event) against a database of facial images of people who have been arrested. All police forces use the Police National Database facial search facility.

The second form is live facial recognition (LFR), which compares images of passers-by taken from live cameras with images on a watch list (a database of suspects). The Metropolitan Police Service and South Wales Police are piloting LFR. The pilots are important to test this technology, which has the potential to improve public safety. Both forces have commissioned independent reviews of the pilots.

The Law Enforcement Facial Images and New Biometric Modalities Oversight and Advisory Board oversees the police use of LFR, the retention of custody images, and emerging new biometrics. The Board’s minutes are published on GOV.UK