Cambridgeshire Police scanned more than 34,000 faces in just six hours during the county’s first-ever live facial recognition operation – leading to two arrests and a string of wanted people being tracked down.
Two high-tech police vans were stationed in Long Causeway and Bridge Street, Peterborough, between 10am and 4pm on Saturday as officers rolled out the controversial crime-fighting technology for the first time.
The operation led to the arrests of two men who had failed to appear at court – one wanted for theft from a person and another over shoplifting offences.
In total, officers made seven positive identifications.
Among those flagged by the system were two registered sex offenders, who police said were complying with their court-imposed conditions, and a woman accused of breaching a criminal behaviour order who will now be voluntarily interviewed.
Two further matches required no further action.
The facial recognition system works by comparing live camera footage against a police watchlist in real time.
During Saturday’s deployment, the watchlist included 579 people, including wanted suspects, offenders with outstanding court warrants and high-risk criminals subject to notification requirements.
Police insist the technology only stores images when an alert is triggered.
Any images of members of the public not matched on the system are automatically deleted, while the watchlist itself is wiped within 24 hours.
Inspector Sam Tucker, who led the operation, said the deployment had been “a successful day”.
He said: “Not only that but our presence in such a busy area of the city received a really positive response – from the public, who were interested in how the technology worked, and Queensgate security and a local shop, which noticed a reduction in crime.
“The officers were also able to deal with other incidents, including helping ambulance colleagues with a medical incident.”
Police confirmed live facial recognition technology will return to Peterborough city centre on 19 June.
For more information visit Cambridgeshire Police
