False Criminals: UK Police Face Recognition Tech Blasted by Big Brother Watch

Trials by the Metropolitan Police saw the Live Facial Recognition (LFR) cameras installed in the UK in 2016-2018. People would pass through an area, such as the Notting Hill Carnival or Stratford transport hub, while the cameras wold scan their faces to determine whether they were on the list of offenders wanted by the police.

Information obtained by the Big Brother Watch revealed that in 96% of facial recognition scans of the public in London, the technology wrongly identified people as criminals, resulting in bulk of false positives. 

— Van Tomas (@VanTomas2) May 7, 2019​

The trials, meant to "deter and prevent crime and bring to justice wanted criminals," have cost 200,000 pounds.

READ MORE: UK Police Pilot Facial Recognition Technology Amid Concerns Over Civil Liberties

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) December 14, 2018​

Despite criticism, the police plan to engage in future LFR deployments at venues, such as football sporting events, music festivals and transport hubs.

"The trial has been set up to find out if the technology and how we use it can work in a range of locations, conditions and scenarios with the engagement of the public. We feel it's important to run the trial in real life conditions to get accurate data and learn as much as possible from it," Met Police said.

Members of public can refuse to be scanned, which is not seen as ‘obstruction' or an offense.