Live facial recognition helping keep people safe in Suffolk

Suffolk Constabulary is again using live facial recognition next week in three locations across Suffolk to prevent crime and keep people safe.

The force will be using one van and equipment, temporarily loaned for the three days from Surrey Police, with the technology used to locate people wanted in connection with investigations into serious offences.

The technology will be used in Lowestoft town centre on Tuesday 25 August, in Bury St Edmunds town centre on Wednesday 26 August and in Ipswich town centre on Thursday 27 August.

The technology compares live camera feeds of faces against a predetermined database or ‘watch list’ of people of interest. Put simply, if you’re not on the ‘watch list’ your face cannot be matched.

The scanning of an image takes less than a second. The data/image of those not on the ‘watchlist’ is automatically and immediately deleted and not stored. When there is a positive match, appropriate action will be taken by officers on the ground to confirm ID and then assess what the next action is to be taken.

Sergeant Anthony Welford of the County Partnership Prevention Hub said: “As we have always said ahead of previous deployments of Live Facial Recognition, it is vital people understand that we take your privacy very seriously and images of members of the public won’t be stored.

“If you are in a location where LFR is being deployed and you are not one of the specific people we’re trying to locate, your image will be immediately and automatically deleted.

“The presence of the vans are also a proven and powerful engagement tool. In previous deployments many people came to speak to officers to understand more about the technology and we welcome similar interest during these three deployments next week as we are keen to raise public awareness around our use of technology to protect communities and bring offenders to justice.

“It’s an effective way of finding people we want to speak to and keeping the public safe. This technology can save time and effort of our officers, leaving them able to do other work to protect and help the public.”

Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk Tim Passmore said: “I really welcome the use of this live facial recognition technology and pleased to see plans for it to be used in locations across Suffolk.

“It has huge potential to bring criminals to justice and prevent crime, which I trust is welcomed by everyone. Anything we can do to keep Suffolk safe by protecting homes and business has my full support.”