Live Facial Recognition to Be Used in Cambridgeshire for First Time

Cambridgeshire Police will deploy live facial recognition technology in Peterborough city centre this weekend in a bid to identify wanted suspects and high-risk offenders.

Live facial recognition technology will be used in Cambridgeshire for the first time this weekend.

Cambridgeshire Police say the system will be deployed in Peterborough city centre on Saturday as part of efforts to identify wanted criminals, people with outstanding arrest warrants and high-risk offenders.

The technology works by comparing faces captured on a live camera feed against a police watchlist in real time. Officers say the system creates a biometric template from facial features and checks for possible matches.

Police say any images that do not trigger an alert are automatically deleted and cannot be recovered, while officers will manually review any potential matches before action is taken.

Assistant Chief Constable John Massey said the force understood the public would have questions about the use of the technology and officers would be available on the day to explain how it works.

The equipment has been borrowed from Bedfordshire Police, one of several UK forces already using dedicated live facial recognition systems.

The deployment comes as police forces across the country continue expanding the use of advanced surveillance technology in public spaces.

Cambridgeshire Police say areas where the technology is being used will be clearly signposted.