170 wanted criminals arrested during live facial recognition pilot
One woman was wanted for more than 20 years
More than 170 wanted criminals have been arrested during a live facial recognition pilot in Croydon.
In total 173 suspects were arrested for crimes including kidnap, rape and serious sexual assault during the six months, during which static cameras rather than vans were used for the first time. Of those one woman who was wanted for more than 20 years was arrested.
New results, released today by the Metropolitan Police, show that during the period, crime in the area fell by 10.5 per cent compared to the same period last year, with the biggest reduction seen in violence against women and girls’ offences, which were down by 21 per cent.
LFR deployments typically require the use of a dedicated van which houses both cameras and the computer equipment required to use them.
For the duration of the pilot – which ran from October 2025 to March 2026 – cameras were instead mounted to existing infrastructure such as lampposts, allowing officers to run deployments in a more agile way.
One arrest every 35 minutes
Officers used the static cameras as part of 24 separate operations and made 173 arrests – the equivalent of one arrest every 35 minutes.
Lindsey Chiswick, national and Met lead for live facial recognition, said:
“These results show why live facial recognition is such a powerful tool when it’s used carefully, openly and in the right places. Crime in this area is down by more than ten per cent, and the public can see the difference.
“This technology is helping us find people wanted by the courts, identify serious offenders quickly and focus our resources where they make the biggest impact, all with exceptional accuracy.
“We will continue using static cameras in Croydon as part of our regular live facial recognition deployments which play a vital part in keeping London safe.”
More than 470,000 people have walked past the camera and during this time there has been just one false alert. This resulted in a brief interaction with officers, who swiftly identified the alert was false and allowed the person who had been stopped to continue on their way.
No one has ever been arrested as a result of a false alert from LFR.