Woman arrested after child hit by car in Market Bosworth
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The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Notting Hill face-recognition technology will be used without bias
Metropolitan Police boss Sir Mark Rowley has said live facial recognition (LFR) technology will be used without bias amid concerns about it being deployed at this year's Notting Hill Carnival. In a letter to the commissioner, 11 groups had said the technology is a 'mass surveillance tool that treats all carnival-goers as potential suspects' and has 'no place at one of London's biggest cultural celebrations'. It also said that LFR technology was 'less accurate for women and people of colour' in certain settings. Responding to the concerns, Sir Mark said the technology will help locate any dangerous individuals attending Notting Hill carnival over the August bank holiday weekend. He wrote that when the technology was used at the carnival in 2016 and 2017, it 'did not build public confidence', but has since 'significantly improved' and now performs to a 'much higher standard'. Sir Mark acknowledged concerns about bias in facial recognition technology, adding that the force has selected the algorithm it uses 'with care' and knows how to use it in a non-discriminatory way. It comes after the letter, signed by groups including Liberty and Big Brother Watch, said there is 'no clear legal basis' for Scotland Yard's use of LFR. The letter added: 'Notting Hill Carnival is an event that specifically celebrates the British African Caribbean community, yet the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) is choosing to use a technology with a well-documented history of inaccurate outcomes and racial bias.' Rebecca Vincent, interim director at Big Brother Watch, said she is 'deeply disappointed' that the Met 'has chosen to dig its heels in' after the call to scrap the 'Orwellian' technology. She added: 'We all want criminals off the streets, but turning (the) carnival into a mass police line-up is not the way to do it.' About 7,000 officers and staff will be deployed each day over the weekend. LFR cameras will be used by police at the carnival to search for people who are marked as being wanted on the police national computer. Meanwhile, a UK retail facial recognition system has reported its highest-ever monthly total of suspect alerts, its operators say. In July 2025, Facewatch sent 43,602 alerts to subscriber retail stores – the equivalent of more than 10,000 suspects flagged every week for the first time and a 134.8% increase compared to July 2024 (18,564). Over the 12 months to July 31, Facewatch said it recorded 407,771 alerts in total, with current live data already showing the rising trend continuing into August. Nick Fisher, chief executive of Facewatch, said: 'July's record numbers are a further stark warning that retailers and their employees are facing unprecedented levels of criminal activity, including violent and aggressive behaviour.' A spokeswoman for Big Brother Watch said: 'This technology turns shoppers into walking barcodes and makes us a nation of suspects, with devastating consequences for people's lives when it inevitably makes mistakes.'
The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Arrest warrants issued after women fail to appear for Jellycat thefts sentencing
Arrest warrants have been issued for two women who did not show up at court for sentencing after stealing hundreds of pounds worth of Jellycat toys. Warrants without bail were issued for Sarah Jordan, 35, of no fixed abode, and Amber Clarke, 24, of Nine Elms, south-west London, after they failed to turn up for their sentencing at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. Jordan is charged with eight counts of theft from shops in Kingston upon Thames and Wimbledon between December 2024 to May 2025 and an allegation of failure to surrender for a previous hearing at the same court. The theft charges include six counts of theft where she was alleged to have stolen numerous Jellycats valued at a total of £1,716.57. Food and clothing were alleged to have been taken in the other thefts, according to the charges. Clarke had previously pleaded guilty to 16 counts of theft in shops in south and south-west London between February 2024 to January 2025. They included thefts on two days where she stole 16 Jellycat soft toys worth £4,454.84 and another day when she 'stole a number of soft toys' to the value of £100 belonging to Waterstones in Lambeth, the charges state. Various grocery and laundry items were stolen in the other thefts. Clarke has also pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing or resisting a constable in the execution of their duty, assault by beating, failure to surrender for a previous hearing at the same court and assaulting an emergency worker.
The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Justice Department investigating DC police over Trump allegations of ‘fake' crime data
The Department of Justice is reportedly investigating whether Washington, D.C. officials manipulated crime data after Donald Trump accused the capital city of creating 'fake crime numbers' to undermine his federal takeover. On his Truth Social account on Monday, Trump accused D.C. officials of manipulating data to create a 'false illusion of safety.' 'This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing!' Trump wrote. Last week, the president declared what he called a 'crime emergency' to justify his administration taking control of the city's Metropolitan Police Department while deploying National Guard troops and federal law enforcement agents into the city's streets, claiming that the White House must 'rescue' the city from 'crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.' He claimed the city is overrun with 'bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,' though reports of violent crime in the city have plummeted, along with national downward trends of violent crime rates. The capital city 'was the most unsafe 'city' in the United States, and perhaps the World,' he wrote on Monday. 'Now, in just a short period of time, it is perhaps the safest, and getting better every single hour!' Despite the administration's claims that crime is 'out of control' in D.C., the data shows the opposite: 2024 saw the lowest violent crime rates in the capital in more than 30 years, while reports of violent crime within the first seven months of 2025 have plunged 27 percent from last year. Homicides are down 11 percent, according to city data. Those rates mirror national downward trends, according to FBI crime data released during Trump's administration.
