Live facial recognition cameras explained - and where West Yorkshire Police use them
West Yorkshire Police’s deployment of live facial recognition (LFR) cameras at Leeds Festival later this month is not the first time the force has used the technology.
West Yorkshire Police’s use of live facial recognition (LFR) cameras at Leeds Festival later this month is not the first time the force has deployed the technology.
Police have previously used LFR in ‘crime hotspots’ and for ‘event deployment’, and first used it in Yorkshire last November in Leeds city centre.
Since then, LFR has been used at the Roundhay Festival in Leeds in July, as well as in the centres of Wakefield, Bradford and Huddersfield.
West Yorkshire Police said a man arrested in Huddersfield on Monday (August 17) was one of three held after officers used LFR cameras in Kirklees for the first time.
The force have deployed LFR cameras 20 times in West Yorkshire since the start of July at ‘public events and crowded or open public spaces’. Police say the technology ‘greatly increases West Yorkshire Police’s ability to keep members of the public safe’.
The use of the cameras will increase privacy concerns about police surveillance, but detectives say LFR is only used in ‘pre-planned and authorised’ operations.
How do Live Facial Recognition cameras work?
Live Facial Recognition cameras sit inside specialised police CCTV vans.
The cameras scan faces in a live video feed, recording 0.2 seconds per face. Faces are then checked against a police watchlist of individuals they’re looking for or monitoring, with the image and any associated data deleted instantly if there’s no match. WYP have insisted that LFR ‘is not a general database of the public’.
Police use LFR cameras to search for those wanted for serious crimes, offenders who are recalled to prison, those with banning orders or bail conditions, or ‘people who pose a credible threat to themselves, others, or are otherwise vulnerable or at risk’.
If police find a match with a pre-determined ‘watchlist’, a trained officer reviews the image before any action is taken.
Any biometric data (facial profiles etc) taken of people by LFR cameras is deleted immediately if it doesn’t trigger the police’s watchlist. Detectives also insist no biometric data is ever passed on to third parties.
The police van also records regular CCTV during LFR deployments, with footage stored separately from the LFR system and kept for up to 31 days, unless it’s needed for an investigation or complaint.
Critics of live facial recognition cameras say police forces using them should make details clear to the public, as “the public absolutely have the right to know what information is being collected about them and how it is being used.”
Ruth Ehrlich, from civil rights campaign group Liberty, said: “Facial recognition technology has been rolled out at pace with different police forces being left to set their own standards and then mark their own homework. Robust safeguards, oversight and transparency should have been in place before facial recognition technology was introduced into our city centres and high streets.
“The Government has committed to introducing a dedicated legal framework for facial recognition technology. Until that is in place, police forces should be pausing the expansion of facial recognition, not accelerating it.”
Which police forces use Live Facial Recognition cameras?
LFR cameras are currently used by 13 out of the 43 police forces in the UK as of March this year, according to the government.
In Yorkshire, West Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Police both use the technology. South Yorkshire, Humberside and Cleveland Police do not currently have formalised plans to use LFR.
Ministers announced in January that a full national rollout is planned for 2026-27.