UK’s Metropolitan Police has announced that they will soon start using live facial recognition cameras for the first time on London streets. This controversial decision has been made in order to provide more protection and safety on the streets of the UK’s capital, but their main purpose will be looking for wanted criminals. Nick Ephgrave, a Met Police assistant commissioner, said: “As a modern police force, I believe that we have a duty to use new technologies to keep people safe in London.”. Unfortunately, the public isn’t sure about this new idea.
Image: Metropolitan Police Federation
The Met Police has already been testing this technology for the past two years and is happy with the results. According to their research the accuracy of this system, recognizing people by their facial features, is around 70%. It’s still a very new and risky way of surveillance and hasn’t been introduced in many countries. In the beginning, they will only install a few cameras in chosen communities, after consulting their inhabitants and other authorities, because, without their consent, they won’t be able to do so. They will cover only a small targeted area and work for the duration of only a few hours at a time. These limitations have been implemented because the system is still in the testing phase.
Image: The Mirror
The Met Police are very happy with their newest technological improvements, but what does the public think about that. At first, they weren’t very happy, but that’s not surprising. Most people would feel weird if they were to be observed by my cameras for most of their day. Many of them even objected against this idea, but after hearing how this concept can lower the crime rate in their neighborhood, they changed their minds. That’s why the consent and permission from the residents were needed, before the installation of the cameras.
The idea of cameras able to recognize people, by their facial features, is still very fresh. How does it work? After a person steps into the camera’s field of view, it precisely scans the geometry of the suspect’s face and creates from it a unique code called “faceprint”. Then, the faceprint is compared with those from the police’s database of suspects and if they match with a flagged person, a supervisor checks if the system didn’t make the mistake and if everything is alright, a special police patrol is dispatched in order to apprehend this criminal.
Image: The Guardian
The Met Police plans to increase the number of cameras in London and to extend their operating time during the day. They want to fully reduce the crime in their city, but they still have a long road before them. Maybe in the future, more countries will start using facial recognition surveillance. It has already proved its worth, and some say that it does the police job’s better than themselves.
References:
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51237665
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49726101
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/24/met-police-begin-using-live-facial-recognition-cameras
Interesting article and personally, I am excited to see what the UK has planned further and if this will really help.
I see just two problems. The first being that 70% accuracy seems a little low to me, so I believe in this is still something that has to be improved. My second concern is that especially if criminals know that specific areas are “upgraded” by the cameras with facial recognition, they would either avoid those places or cover their faces.
To sum it up, I do believe that it’s a step in the right direction, but to make it a success and not just a trial, just a few places in the city are not enough to get to the dream of no crime, like you also mentioned.
Thank you for interesting article. I liked the concept of this technology and it seems to me that this will be a big step in the field of police, when they will start using it.
I like that new technologies can help wit assuring your safety! I believe that this technology is now new to China, and they even use it for all new mobile phone numbers. I am looking forward to seeing a more developed version of those technologies in Europe too.
I find it very interesting to see how and where and how technology can be used. I’m impatient to see what will be the result of such system and if other countries will try the same after.
Although, it seems scary to know that they are being watched non stop. What about their freedom? Being watched makes me feel controlled at some point.
In my opinion it can be a great way to get criminals but also not completely respecting the privacy and freedom of others.
all this reminds me a bit of a game called watch dogs.. 🙂 complete invigilation is coming soon and surely is inevitable