Live Facial Recognition (LFR) deployment in Watford results in four arrests

A Live Facial Recognition (LFR) operation on Watford High Street on Friday (27 February) proved highly successful, enabling officers to locate and arrest four individuals who were wanted by Hertfordshire Constabulary.

The deployment ran from 10.18am until 2.45pm and cameras were placed on two police vans on the High Street.  The technology compares the live camera feeds of faces against a predetermined watchlist in real-time and is then used to locate persons of interest by generating an alert when a possible match is found.

It analyses key facial features and generates a mathematical representation of these features. It then compares them against the mathematical representation of known faces in a database, generating possible matches.

In total, 56,232 faces were seen on the deployment, with no false alerts and one successful alert, which resulted in the arrest of a 33-year-old man of no fixed abode on suspicion of immigration offences and the cultivation of cannabis.

Further arrests were made after officers observed three men attempting to evade the cameras while the technology was in operation:

• A 56-year-old man from Luton was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting offences.
• A 46-year-old man from Watford was arrested on suspicion of fraud and theft from a motor vehicle.
• A 31-year-old man of no fixed abode was arrested on suspicion of theft and possession of an offensive weapon.

Chief Inspector Chris Rutter said: “Live Facial Recognition has been developed over a long period of time, and we are now confident in its ability to help us safeguard vulnerable people, including those who are missing, as well as individuals of interest.

"We had some great involvement and engagement with the community in Watford.  A number of members of the public came to speak to us and we had generally positive feedback from them; they loved what we are doing by utilising this technology to ultimately catch criminals and keep people safe.

“This deployment in Watford was very successful, with thousands of faces scanned and the presence of the technology helped us to make arrests of four wanted individuals.

“The arrests of these four men simply wouldn’t have happened at that moment without this technology. It shows how tools like this can give us another way to keep our communities safe and ensure our town centres remain welcoming places for everyone.”

Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, Jonathan Ash-Edwards said: "This is a clear example of technology being used responsibly by the constabulary to keep people safe across Hertfordshire. The successful deployment of Live Facial Recognition in Watford last week has helped officers identify offenders and prevent further harm, and it has been done with strict safeguards and transparency in place. The technology is being rolled out as business as usual for the constabulary and I fully support this. Used proportionally and lawfully, Live Facial Recognition is a powerful tool to catch criminals and keep our communities safe."

You can get further information on the use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) on the Hertfordshire Constabulary at www.herts.police.uk/lfr