Is mass surveillance the way forward to police society?

Most sources suggest that Britain, in terms of CCTV cameras and coverage per head in cities, is one of the most surveilled nations in the world, albeit coming some way behind China, where it seems to be even more routine.

- SEAN O'GRADY

The trend towards “snooping” on British folk seems to be accelerating. More live facial recognition vans are to be deployed across seven police forces in England in a mass-surveillance trial. The aim is to identify and locate suspects in some of the crimes that most worry the public, such as sexual offences, violent assaults and murder. Ticket touts are also targets.

Crime is a major concern among voters, but so are their civil liberties.

How will it work?

Quite passively, as has been the case for some years. Just like in films, the police can place vans in crowded places such as high streets and automatically scan the faces of people walking past, checking them against a databank of images of wanted people. If it relies on busy officers spooling through hours of footage, it might not always be worth the effort; they have enough trouble at present trying to find shoplifters.

Does it work?