Live Facial Recognition Operation - Thursday 07th May 2026

Dear Met Engage Members,

On Thursday 07th May 2026, officers from your local teams took part in a Live Facial Recognition Operation in Wimbledon Town Centre.

This was a great opportunity to deliver another operation to tackle crime locally in Merton. It was also brilliant to get the chance to speak with many of you about our work locally whilst we were deployed on the ground. This was our fourth Facial Recognition deployment in Merton since 2024.

Our operation resulted in:

Two arrests for persons wanted by the courts.

Three stops and engagements in relation to people with court imposed conditions.

Pro-active stop & search.

Deployment and investigation into a fraud matter within the Town Centre.

Between the 11th September 2024 until the 10th September 2025, Live Facial Recognition Operations across London resulted in an additional 962 arrests. This year already, these operations have resulted in an additional 500 arrests across London, reducing risk and keeping people safe.

The technology has been independently tested outside of policing by the National Physical Laboratory. They are a world-leading centre of excellence that provides cutting-edge measurement in science, engineering and technology. This ensures we are able to deliver fair, evidenced based policing.

If you'd like to know more about Facial Recognition Technology and how it works, there is lots of useful information on the Met Police Website below.

Live Facial Recognition | Metropolitan Police

It is just one of a range of tactics that we will continue to use, to work hard on delivering community crime fighting locally.

Best wishes and kind regards.

Oli