Thames Valley PCC says force needs to review use of live facial recognition technology
New data reveals the vans have led to 17 arrests in the region since December
The Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley says the force needs to review how its live facial recognition vans are being used after new figures showed 17 arrests were made across 13 deployments since December.
The technology has been used in towns and cities including Oxford, Reading, Slough, Milton Keynes, High Wycombe, Bracknell, Aylesbury and Chesham.
In total, more than 240,000 faces were scanned, generating 35 alerts.
The highest number of arrests came from Oxford and Slough, where operations generated multiple alerts linked to individuals on police watchlists.
One additional arrest in High Wycombe was made during a deployment but was not as a result of a facial recognition alert.
PCC Matthew Barber said while the vans have proven to work, there are questions around how they are deployed in practice.
"We’ve seen we have seen the arrests, we seen some dangerous people taken off the streets but these are very resource intensive operations so we do need to look at the way in which the technology is used," he said.
He added that arrest figures alone do not fully reflect the impact of the technology.
“There will be other people identified where perhaps an arrest isn’t appropriate, it might be other intelligence gathering that goes on so that’s not the only metric but it is a very important one,” he said.
Mr Barber suggested that the vans may be more effective in finding criminals in crowds.
"We’ve seen it being used at large events and that’s perhaps a better use of that technology," he said
He also stressed the importance of maintaining public confidence in its use.
“This is still relatively new and it’s not just about the technology it’s about the tactics that are being used and making sure that we maintain public consent," Mr Barber said.
"We need to explain to the public why we’re using these tactics so that people understand that there aren’t risks to the general public and the only people who should be concerned about this are criminals.”
The vans will be deployed on Cornmarket Street in Oxford today.