Force set to trial facial recognition technology

Live Facial Recognition is to be used in Hertfordshire

- By CHARLOTTE PAGE

HERTFORDSHIRE Constabulary is to trial Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology this month as part of its commitment to keeping communities safe and tackling serious crime.

This innovative approach combines cutting-edge technology with strict safeguards to ensure fairness, transparency, and privacy, the force said in a statement.

It continued: “LFR compares a human face captured by a camera against digital images uploaded to a secure database called the Watchlist. This process is fast, accurate, and designed to help identify individuals wanted for serious offences.

“The Watchlist is manually populated for each deployment and includes individuals wanted by police or courts for serious offences such as violent or sexual crimes and those subject to court orders, including Registered Sex Offenders.

“Each deployment has a new Watchlist tailored to that operation and there is no permanent or general database.

“If no alert is generated, biometric data is automatically and immediately deleted and if an alert is generated, biometric data is deleted within 24-hours.