Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood pledges to expand facial recognition as critics warn of overreach
Police in England and Wales will receive 40 new facial recognition vans following Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s overhaul of the service.
Laws within both countries are already in place, but the government hopes to roll out more of the same technology with artificial intelligence enhancements. The Home Secretary has unveiled sweeping reforms she hopes will bolster existing access to its abilities.
AI Surveillance
The MP for Birmingham Ladywood said: “Criminals are operating in increasingly sophisticated ways. However, some police forces are still fighting crime with analogue methods.”
“We will roll out state-of-the-art tech to get more officers on the streets and put rapists and murderers behind bars.”
“Taken together, these are, without question, major reforms.”
“A transformation in the structures of our forces, the standards within them and the means by which they are held to account by the public, these are the most significant changes to how policing works in this country in around 200 years.”
“The world has changed immeasurably since then, but policing has not.”
“We have excellent and brave police officers across the country, we have effective and inspiring leaders across many of our forces, but they are operating within a structure that is outdated, making the job of policing our streets and protecting our country harder than it should be.”
Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) told reporters that the reforms were long overdue:
“If we want to put in the hands of every neighbourhood cop, every local team, the best available technology, we’ve got to do that once for everybody and then get it rolled out.”
Criticisms
Despite excitement from the government, many on social media have called it a “step towards China’s social credit system” and overreaching powers, while others exclaimed it’s a doorway to an Orwellian surveillance state.
Opposition to the announcements include fears of mass surveillance and data misuse. Facial recognition is a method of biometric data collection, which means if leaks occur, they’re irreversible.
Big Brother Watch Advocacy Manager Matthew Feeney said:
“Today’s announcement represents one of the most significant threats to civil liberties in the history of British policing. The Home Secretary announcing the costly rollout of a mass biometric surveillance technology is especially egregious at a time when the government has yet to finish an ongoing facial recognition consultation. Sadly, this latest news justifies Big Brother Watch’s long-standing concerns that police will use facial recognition as a tool for mass surveillance.”
In December, Human Rights advocacy network Liberty, decried the use of AI facial recognition, following reports of bias:
“The statistics showing clear racial bias in facial recognition technology were concerning enough. But the revelation that police continued to roll out a system they knew was biased against women, young people, and people from racially marginalised groups is deeply troubling.”
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