The use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology by London's Metropolitan Police has surged in 2024, with deployments more than three times higher than in the previous four years combined. As of August 2024, the Met police have used facial recognition 117 times, scanning approximately 770,966 people, compared to 32 deployments from 2020 to 2023. The Met's director of intelligence and National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on facial recognition technology stated that the force operates at a threshold where National Physical Laboratory (NPL) testing has shown zero bias. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner described LFR as potentially the best piece of operational technology since fingerprinting, claiming it is accurate, fair, and not intrusive. He believes that the use of live facial recognition could restore trust in policing.
