STORY
The Metropolitan Police has said a six-month live facial recognition pilot in Croydon led to 173 arrests, equivalent to one arrest every 35 minutes during deployments. The pilot, which ran from October 2025 to March 2026, used static cameras mounted on existing infrastructure such as lampposts rather than the dedicated vans normally used for live facial recognition operations.
The Met said crime in the area fell by 10.5% compared with the same period the previous year, with violence against women and girls offences down by 21%. Those arrested during the pilot included people wanted for kidnap, rape and serious sexual assault, while 37 arrests were made for breaches of court-imposed conditions.
Lindsey Chiswick, the national and Met lead for live facial recognition, said the results showed the technology could help identify serious offenders quickly when used carefully and openly. The force said more than 470,000 people walked past the cameras during the pilot, with one false alert and no arrests ever made as a result of a false alert from live facial recognition.