{"id":132595,"date":"2026-03-23T13:26:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/901266114"},"modified":"2026-03-23T13:26:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:26:58","slug":"facial-recognition-technology-catches-one-out-of-more-than-50000-faces-scanned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/23\/facial-recognition-technology-catches-one-out-of-more-than-50000-faces-scanned\/","title":{"rendered":"Facial recognition technology catches one out of more than 50,000 faces scanned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police deployed Live Facial Recognition (LFR)<\/a> cameras in the city over the weekend, using high tech equipment to try to identify known criminals and suspects who had failed to attend court.\n<\/p>\n

Their details had been entered into the system as part of a pre-determined watchlist.\n<\/p>\n

In the event, however, just one person was spotted, although officers taking part did make a second arrest using more old-school methods, when a member of the public approached them to say a man had been seen taking pictures up a woman’s skirt in a shop. A man in his 70s was arrested.\n<\/p>\n

Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology was used in Norwich for the first time over the weekend (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

The LFR technology was operated from special vans from Bedfordshire Constabulary which were parked on Gentleman’s Walk on Saturday and Sunday.\n<\/p>\n

More than 50,000 faces were scanned with just two positive matches.\n<\/p>\n

Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology was used in Norwich for the first time over the weekend (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

One man was identified as being wanted for failing to appear in court.\n<\/p>\n

When he was stopped by police he was also found to be in possession of cannabis.\n<\/p>\n

The man was rebailed for his court warrant and issued with a community resolution for possession of the drugs.\n<\/p>\n

A second man was identified as being the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).\n<\/p>\n

He was spoken to by officers who established he was not in breach of any conditions, so no further action was taken.\n<\/p>\n

Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology was used in Norwich for the first time over the weekend (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

The LFR system alerts police to any faces which match someone on the watchlist. \n<\/p>\n

All other faces scanned by the system which do not provide a match are deleted immediately and permanently.  \n<\/p>\n

Inspector Toby Gosden said: \u201cWe spoke to hundreds of people during the deployment, explaining how the tech works and how it was helping to keep Norwich safe.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was our first time using the vans and we received a really positive response. It was a great opportunity to engage with the public and local businesses whilst showing them exactly what this technology can do.”\n<\/p>\n

Inspector Toby Gosden (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

There has been criticism from civil liberty campaigners who have called for the police to abandon its plans of the “intrusive technology more suited to authoritarian regimes”.\n<\/p>\n

Jasleen Chaggar, from Big Brother Watch – an organisation which campaigns against surveillance and censorship – said: “Norwich residents should not be subjected to invasive biometric face scans.”\n<\/p>\n

Jasleen Chaggar (Image: Jasleen Chaggar)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

She called on Norfolk Constabulary to abandon its plans to use the technology, insisting: “The alarmingly broad categories of people who can be added to a police watchlist, including those linked to non-crimes and even victims of crime, are open to abuse.”\n<\/p>\n

But Insp Godsen insisted the technology was “about identifying those people who are wanted by the police”.\n<\/p>\n

He added: “If you’ve got nothing to hide it’s no problem.”\n<\/p>\n

Insp Gosden said the zone where the technology was being used was clearly signposted with officers on hand to answer any questions the public might have.\n<\/p>\n

A sign warning people the technology was being used (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

He said use of the technology was advertised five days in advance on the force website.\n<\/p>\n

The cameras will be used for a second time in Norwich on Saturday, March 28.\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… over the weekend, using high tech<\/span> equipment to try to … Peter Walsh, Newsquest) The LFR technology<\/span> was operated from special … during the deployment, explaining how the tech<\/span> works and how it … its plans to use the technology<\/span>, insisting: "The alarmingly broad …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}