Cooper defends facial recognition expansion

THE Home Secretary has defended the Government's expansion of live facial recognition technology as a “targeted” crackdown on high-harm offenders amid concerns over privacy.

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Yvette Cooper denied the technology was being used to catch lower-level crimes such as ticket-touting, as it has been previously in Wales, and said “safeguards and protections” will govern its deployment.

Critics including Labour peer Baroness Shami Chakrabarti have attacked new plans to roll out 10 vans equipped with facial recognition technology across seven police forces in England as part of a Government overhaul of neighbourhood policing.

The former shadow attorney general said the expansion was a step towards a “total surveillance society” in the UK.