Wakefield police to use live facial recognition technology in city centre this week
Wakefield Police will deploy live facial recognition technology in the city centre this week as part of a policing operation aimed at identifying wanted offenders and vulnerable people.
The force confirmed the state-of-the-art system, known as Live Facial Recognition or LFR, will be used from Wednesday, June 15 to Friday, July 17.
It said: “Use of the technology is part of our ongoing commitment to keeping our communities safe and bringing offenders to justice.”
Officers say the technology is designed to help prevent crime and locate people who may pose a risk to the public.
If somebody walking past the cameras is not on the watchlist, their biometric data is automatically deleted immediately and cannot be recovered, police said.
Where the system produces a possible match, the alert is reviewed by specially trained officers before any action is taken. Police stressed that officers must confirm a match before approaching an individual.
Any alert-related data is automatically deleted after 24 hours unless needed for an investigation. CCTV footage from deployments is deleted within 31 days unless it must legally be retained under data protection or criminal investigation laws.
Examples of who watchlists might contain are: People who are wanted by police and/or courts, or are recalled to prison, and are likely to be in the deployment area; People with court banning orders, bail conditions, or similar, relevant to that specific operation; People who pose a credible threat to themselves or others or are otherwise vulnerable and at risk.
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