According to DASA — the Ministry of Defence’s body for finding and funding technology for the military, police, and security services — the aim of the exploration is to help the Home Office “have a better understanding of current technologies that could enhance facial recognition capabilities.”

It also seeks to identify “solutions” with higher readiness levels that could be deployed for Home Office and policing usage within the next 18 months.

Adopted “solutions” could expand retroactive facial recognition, which is when technology is used after an event to help establish who somebody is or whether their image matches against other media held in a database, as well as live facial recognition, where images of people in a specific area are streamed in real-time to a facial recognition system via cameras.

The Home Office and DASA stated that “the use of this technology in an ethical and effective way is a priority,” and that it is “vital that proposed solutions are secure, accurate, explainable and free from bias.”

Commenting on the market exploration, professor Paul Taylor, the National Policing Chief Scientific Adviser, said: “The Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire and I strongly support the development and implementation of facial recognition (FR) technology within the law enforcement sector and are encouraged by it’s [sic] potential.

“We firmly believe that embracing this advanced technology can significantly enhance public safety while respecting individual rights and privacy. Industry is pivotal to realisation of that mission.”

“To maximise the technological benefits and minimise the risks associated with FR, it is crucial that we support and encourage industry to continue developing capabilities which can be deployed effectively and ethically,” he further stated.

An Orwellian mass surveillance tool?

Facial recognition technologies are already being used in a number of ways within the UK policing and security settings, and at varying stages — despite ongoing public backlash and concern.

Silkie Carlo, the Director of Big Brother Watch — the British civil liberties and privacy campaigning group — said in a statement regarding the new market exploration that facial recognition technology is an “Orwellian mass surveillance tool.”

“It’s disturbing and deeply undemocratic that the Government is planning to expand facial recognition surveillance in the UK. This is an Orwellian mass surveillance tool rarely seen outside of Russia and China and has absolutely no place in Britain,” said Carlo.

“The Government has no mandate at all to do this and the fact that the rest of the democratic world is legislating to ban live facial recognition surveillance shows just how backwards the Home Office’s approach to this is.

“Live facial recognition has the potential to invade the privacy of millions of Brits and turn us into walking ID cards living in a surveillance state. It is totally unnecessary, unConservative and unBritish, and the Policing Minister would do best to focus on fixing our broken law enforcement rather than spending taxpayers’ money on dystopian, experimental software.”

Recommended reading

• Facial Recognition Trials by South Wales Police Ruled Unlawful
• EU Considers Five Year Ban on Facial Recognition Tech
• UK Bar First to Use Facial Recognition Technology

Speaking previously on facial recognition technology, Liberty — the human rights and civil liberties advocacy group — said that “We should all be able to live our lives without the threat of being watched, tracked and monitored by the police. Facial recognition technology is a discriminatory and oppressive surveillance tool that completely undermines this basic right.”

In 2020, Liberty won a legal challenge against police use of facial recognition tech, with trial deployments of the tech by South Wales Police being ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal.