Facial Recognition Cameras Return to Peterborough City Centre

Live facial recognition cameras are being used in Peterborough city centre again today, following a trial run last month which police say was a success.

The technology scans faces from live camera feeds, checking them instantly against a watchlist of people who pose the biggest risk to public safety.

Inspector John Massey from Cambridgeshire Police described the results as “a really satisfactory return.”

He said, “We had two arrests out of seven positive identifications on the day, and the arrests were for failing to appear at court—one person for a theft matter and the other for a shoplifting matter."

"From a day's work, we feel that was a really satisfactory return and gives a real insight into the potential here, the levels of safety that we can now achieve and the progress we can make in investigations.”

Inspector Massey added, “It’s one additional element to our armoury and to our toolkit here, but it's a very vital one and it's one which is growing and we are learning more about all the time. It's a really effective and really exciting innovation that we're keen to use and learn and understand more about, about its potential going forwards as well.”

He also explained the benefits for public protection:

“That person who potentially represents a significant risk to the public is taken out of circulation, an investigation conducted, and we can progress an investigation really effectively or return the person before the courts as they've been required to.”

Police have promised that data protection laws are being followed, and any footage with no matches is deleted within 24 hours.

The force says feedback from the first deployment was positive, with local businesses reporting a drop in crime.

First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app.