Views sought on facial recognition

MINISTERS are seeking to ramp up police use of facial recognition to fight crime and are asking people how it should be used, to form new laws.

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minister Sarah Jones

A 10-week consultation is being launched that will ask for views on how the technology should be regulated and how to protect people’s privacy.

The Government is also proposing to create a regulator to oversee police use of facial recognition, biometrics and other tools, and is collecting opinions on what powers it should have.

Policing minister Sarah Jones described facial recognition as the “biggest breakthrough for catching criminals since DNA matching” saying that it has already helped catch thousands of criminals.