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Trial of live facial recognition in London stations ends with a false positive and no arrests
UK NewsTechnology•September 29, 2026 at 10:48 AMNational

Trial of live facial recognition in London stations ends with a false positive and no arrests

By Phoebe Davis and Daniel Boffey•The Guardian - UK News

Freedom of information request finds six-month trial cost £320,000, used almost 100 police hours and led to just one – incorrect – alertA six-month trial of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in London’s railway stations that cost more than £320,000 and almost 100 hours of police officers’ time ended in one false match against a watchlist of suspects and no arrests.More than half a million faces were scanned between February and July this year in some of the capital’s busiest transport hubs during the British Transport Police (BTP) trial of the surveillance technology, which aimed to help catch offenders and people breaching court orders. Continue reading...

Freedom of information request finds six-month trial cost £320,000, used almost 100 police hours and led to just one – incorrect – alert

A six-month trial of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in London’s railway stations that cost more than £320,000 and almost 100 hours of police officers’ time ended in one false match against a watchlist of suspects and no arrests.

More than half a million faces were scanned between February and July this year in some of the capital’s busiest transport hubs during the British Transport Police (BTP) trial of the surveillance technology, which aimed to help catch offenders and people breaching court orders.

Continue reading...