Facial recognition technology leads to 11 arrests at Manchester's Caribbean Carnival
Tens of thousands attended the two-day event
Last updated 10th Aug 2026
Manchester's Caribbean Carnival has passed without any significant problems, according to Greater Manchester Police.
Tens of thousands of people attended the two-day event, taking in Saturday's parade, live performances and other activities over the weekend.
Officers used Live Facial Recognition, known as LFR, as part of their policing at this year's carnival.
The technology scans faces and alerts officers when someone is wanted or subject to a court order, with all images deleted within 24 hours, according to Greater Manchester Police.
LFR has previously been deployed at the Brit Awards, the MOBO Awards, football matches, the Manchester Marathon and in town centres.
Eleven arrests over the weekend
There were 34 alerts from the technology over the two days.
Eleven of these led to arrests, for offences including breach of a sexual harm prevention order, fraud, failing to appear at court, and theft.
The remaining 23 alerts included eleven registered sex offenders, whose conditions were checked by officers, and five people known to regularly carry knives.
A missing child was also identified with the help of the technology, police said.
Greater Manchester Police said no one was misidentified during any of the scans carried out over the weekend.
More than one million scans since launch
LFR has been used more than one million times since it was introduced in October last year, according to the force.
In that time, only one person has been mistakenly identified, a white female at the Manchester Marathon, police said.
Officers were on hand throughout the carnival to explain how the technology works and to answer questions from the public, Greater Manchester Police said.
Assistant Chief Constable Rick Jackson, who was Gold Commander for the carnival, said the event was "a fantastic success from a policing perspective".
"The overwhelming majority of people enjoyed themselves sensibly and safely," he said.
"A lot of policing work goes into making sure people stay safe during events of this nature, and I would like to thank each officer involved for their hard work," he said.
"As with any event involving such a huge amount of people, a fraction of people were arrested for various reasons, with our officers quickly on hand to deal with situations where necessary," he said.
"LFR has been a great tool in identifying everything from wanted criminals to missing people, doing so accurately and without any misidentifications," he said.
"By working closely with Carnival organisers and the local community, we hope to continue building stronger links going forward, to ensure that we can provide the best possible policing service," Rick Jackson said.