{"id":84997,"date":"2026-02-11T13:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/891435669"},"modified":"2026-02-11T13:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:55:18","slug":"british-transport-police-launch-facial-recognition-tech-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/british-transport-police-launch-facial-recognition-tech-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"British Transport Police launch facial recognition tech trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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British Transport Police (BTP) has become the latest law enforcement organisation in the UK to explore Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology, starting from Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Various UK legal institutions have been launching trials, with central government keen on supporting AI-powered LFR as a method of improving efficiency across the entirety of law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Several police forces including Thames Valley<\/a> and the Metropolitan Police have rolled out vans fitted with the technology, while government departments including the Ministry of Justice<\/a> and the Home Office have been exploring using it to support the probation service and immigration control.<\/p>\n

BTP has become the latest to launch a trial, with the operation beginning today at London Bridge railway station.<\/p>\n

Cameras will scan the faces of passengers in the station and compare them to a watchlist of offenders and flagging the system in cases of a match that will then be reviewed by officers.<\/p>\n

For now the LFR cameras will only be in use in what BTP is calling the \u201crecognition zone\u201d, and BTP chief superintendent Chris Casey has said that those who \u201cprefer not to enter the recognition zone will have alternative routes available and images of anyone not on the authorised database will be deleted immediately and permanently\u201d.<\/p>\n

The pilot will last six months and other locations in which it will apply will be published ahead of time by BTP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project team have spent a significant amount of time working closely with partners including Network Rail, the Department for Transport and the Rail Delivery Group to get us to this stage,\u201d Casey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to reiterate that this is a trial of the technology to assess how it performs in a railway setting. The initiative follows a significant amount of research and planning, and forms part of BTP\u2019s commitment to using innovative technology to make the railways a hostile place for individuals wanted for serious criminal offences, helping us keep the public safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

While organisations conducting the trials have reported success, the increased use of facial recognition by British law enforcement has naturally spurred criticism from privacy advocates as well as those with concerns about accuracy and racial bias.<\/p>\n

Responding to critics, Tony Kounnis, chief executive of Face Int UK and Europe said: \u201cThese concerns cannot and should not be ignored.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout proper oversight around the efficacy of the technology being used, as well as the ways people\u2019s biometric data is then being analysed and stored, then we\u2019ll be sleepwalking into a potential crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Face Int UK develops facial recognition technology with a focus on woekplace security, replacing things like key cards and fobs.<\/p>\n

Kounnis added: \u201cFor all its potential, facial recognition technology can also do damage if it\u2019s not deployed responsibly and with accuracy and privacy at its core, so for all the good news about how it\u2019s being used, both the developers and users of facial recognition technology must address people\u2019s concerns with transparency and rigour.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

… Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology<\/span>, starting from Wednesday. Various … vans fitted with the technology<\/span>, while government departments … UK develops facial recognition technology<\/span> with a focus … users of facial recognition technology<\/span> must address people\u00e2\u0080\u0099 …<\/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-84997","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\/84997","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=84997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}