The UK is expanding its use of facial recognition among law enforcement, rolling out more live facial recognition vans across seven police forces in England.

A total of ten new vans have been sent out, equipped with targeted, cutting-edge technology. The new vans will operate under strict rules, the Home Office says, to ensure they are only deployed when there is specific intelligence.

These vehicles enable law enforcement to target and locate wanted criminals, and existing safeguards require checks only to be done against police watchlists of wanted criminals, suspects, and those subject to bail or court order conditions.

Watchlists are bespoke to each deployment, with officers following strict guidance from the College of Policing.

The expanded rollout of facial recognition technology comes as the UK government ushers in a new era of policing, aiming to have 3,000 new neighbourhood officers and police community support officers in place.

“Facial recognition will be used in a targeted way to identify sex offenders or people wanted for the most serious crimes who the police have not been able to find,” home secretary Yvette Cooper said. “That’s why we’re funding 10 vans and also drawing up a new legal framework, so we’ve got proper safeguards and checks in place so that we can use the technology to go after the most dangerous criminals.”

Th Met police have reported success with the deployment of facial recognition, saying it accounted for 580 arrests made in 12 months.

However, the Big Brother Watch has called the “unprecedented” rollout a “frightening expansion” of the technology, branding it as “worrying for our democracy.”

Big Brother Watch pointed out that, despite the expansion, the UK elected officials have never voted to authorise police use of live facial recognition technology, meaning that the police instead rely on various existing laws to justify its use.

The Ada Lovelace Institute has recently called out the UK government for their “piecemeal” approach to facial recognition governance, saying that it is “inadequate” and creates “legal uncertainty, putting fundamental rights at risk and undermining public trust.”

Opponents of the technology are also concerned regarding who may end up on the police facial recognition watchlists, which can include vulnerable people and victims of crimes. In one case, an anti-knife crime community worker was picked and questioned by police in 2024 using live facial recognition, despite committing no crime.

The independent watchdog also warned on how the increased surveillance could impact protestors and people with mental illnesses.

“This unprecedented escalation in the use of facial recognition technology across the UK is alarming, and represents a significant expansion of the surveillance state. Live facial recognition turns every passerby into a walking barcode and treats us all as a nation of suspects,” Rebecca Vincent, interim director of Big Brother Watch, said.

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Thew government is set to roll out new units to police forces in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey and Sussex, and Thames Valley and Hampshire.

The facial recognition algorithm used in the new vans has been independently tested for bias by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), which found that the algorithm is accurate, and that there is no bias for ethnicity, age, or gender at the settings used by the police.

While the mobile units are deployed in the coming weeks, a consultation will be launched in the autumn seeking views on how the technology should be used.

“The increased access to Live Facial Recognition vehicles to forces that previously did not have the capability is an excellent opportunity for policing,” Lindsey Chiswick, NPCC lead for facial recognition, said. “Each Live Facial Recognition deployment will be targeted, intelligence-led, within a set geographical location and for defined period of time, ensuring deployments are proportionate, lawful and necessary.