Live facial recognition hits Bedfordshire next week

The expansion of LFR was announced by the Home Office in August – with Bedfordshire Police selected as one of seven forces to receive it.

The force says it will be used by “specially trained officers” and will give them an “unmatched advantage in their bid to locate and apprehend high-harm offenders who have evaded the police or courts”.

LFR Strategic Lead, Superintendent Ian Taylor, said: “We’re proud to announce the launch of Live Facial Recognition in Bedfordshire with our first deployment due to take place next week in Bedford.

“We know that the community still have a lot of questions about the use of advanced technology within policing and officers will be on hand to engage with the community and answer any queries they may have. LFR supports policing with an unmatched advantage to identify and detain wanted individuals, ensuring criminals are brought to justice swiftly and the communities of Bedfordshire are protected from crime and harm.

“While this capability is new to Bedfordshire, it has been used across policing and security services for a number of years. Adopting LFR at this stage provides an added layer of assurance as we have seen the technology improve greatly, even outperforming its anticipated accuracy and success rate.”

LFR works by comparing a live camera feed with biometric templates of images from a pre-established watchlist. Unique to each deployment, these watchlists feature police images of persons of interest, such as those wanted by the police or courts as well as those subject to bail conditions or specific court orders.

If a match is found, officers are notified via secure devices to review it – and will then carry out further assessments with the flagged person to confirm their identity before taking action.

The force says it will also deploy LFR as part of operations to safeguard vulnerable individuals, such as locating high-risk missing people, victims of crime or people who have been identified as potentially having crucial information relating to a serious crime investigation.

The Police and Crime Commissioner has set out a Memorandum of Understanding with Bedfordshire Police, establishing the principles and governance for the ethical, legal, and proportionate use of LFR technology, which it says outlines the terms of oversight and accountability, ensuring that LFR deployments are subject to scrutiny by an Ethics Panel which will assess compliance and community impact.

Police and Crime Commissioner, John Tizard said: “I am pleased that Bedfordshire Police has taken delivery of two specialist Live Facial Recognition vans as part of a Home Office rollout of ten LFR vans across the country, equipping police officers with targeted, cutting-edge technology to catch high-harm criminals.

“In order to fulfil my duties and ensure effective governance of the use of LFR, I have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chief Constable, and I will be introducing an ethics panel for the wider use of AI in policing.”

Future deployment dates will be published on the force’s website.