Facial recognition tech to be rolled out nationally

EVERY police force in the country will be able to use live facial recognition vans as part of the biggest shakeup in policing in decades.

- ANAHITA HOSSEIN-POUR

An existing 10 vans will rise to 50, rolled out nationwide, to catch criminals on police watchlists - and will be overseen by a national centre on artificial intelligence (AI).

The move comes as part of major changes revealed in the UK Government’s White Paper on police reforms, which seeks to also create a ‘British FBI’ called the National Police Service (NPS) and drastically cut the number of police forces.

Plans already announced also include a new “licence to practice” for police officers, and powers for the Home Secretary to sack under-performing chief constables and intervene in failing forces.

Speaking in the Commons, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out how the policing structures are “outdated” and called policing the “last great unreformed public service”.

She said: “Taken together, these are, without question, major reforms.

“A transformation in the structures of our forces, the standards within them and the means by which they are held to account by the public, these are the most significant changes to how policing works in this country in around 200 years.”

The plans are expected to be introduced in stages, with some needing to pass legislation.

The NPS - with the aim to tackle serious crime - will merge the existing National Crime Agency, Counter Terror Policing, the National Police Air Service and National Roads Policing all under a single organisation.

Work to set up the NPS will start this year, but it is believed it will be finalised in the next Parliament.