Latest news with #facialrecognition
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Britain's biggest police force to double use of live facial recognition
Britain's biggest police force is set to more than double its use of live facial recognition to up to 10 deployments a week. The move by the Metropolitan Police comes as it restructures to cover the loss of 1,400 officers and 300 staff amid budget shortages. Part of the overhaul will also see officers moved to bulk up the force's public order crime team, as the Met said it has faced increased demand linked to protest-related crimes in the past two years. The squad will go from 48 to 63 officers due to a rise in the number of protests, particularly related to Israel and Palestine, as well as environmental issues. Force chief Sir Mark Rowley told the PA news agency: 'The numbers of protests have grown over the last couple of years. 'We don't have any powers that are there to reduce the number of protests, to cancel them. 'Laws are very permissive and encouraging of protests, which is entirely understandable, and I've got no objection to that, but what we've seen, unfortunately, is a proportion of those create crime and offences.' As part of the latest details of its restructure, the Met announced that live facial recognition will now be used up to 10 times per week across five days, up from the current four times per week across two days. Earlier this month the Met revealed that it had made 1,000 arrests using live facial recognition to date, of which 773 had led to charge or caution. Charlie Whelton, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: 'It's incredibly concerning to see an expansion of facial recognition, especially at a time when there is a complete lack of regulation governing its use. 'Any tech which has the potential to infringe on our rights in the way scanning and identifying millions of people does needs to have robust safeguards around its use, including ensuring that proper independent oversight is in place. 'The Government must legislate now to regulate this technology, protect people's rights, and make sure that the law on facial recognition does not get outpaced by the use.' Sir Mark insisted that the technology is responsibly used. 'We're only using it to look for serious offenders like wanted offenders and registered sex offenders. 'We routinely put it out there and capture multiple serious offenders in one go, many of whom have committed serious offences against women or children, or people who are wanted for armed robbery. 'It's a fantastic piece of technology. It's very responsibly used, and that's why most of the public support it.' Officers are also being moved to neighbourhood teams to deal with street crime including phone thefts, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting, with 80 moved to the team that covers the West End, a rise of 50%. Last month, retailers warned that flagship high streets such as Oxford Street in the West End were at risk without urgent national action on crime. While shoplifting hit a record high in 2024 with the number of offences surpassing 500,000 for the first time, High Streets UK, a group that represents 5,000 businesses, called for wider action to deal with all types of crime affecting high streets. 'The West End generates £50 billion for the UK economy,' Sir Mark said. 'It's an enormous wealth generator. It's important we police and protect that well. 'And we think there's more we can do on our own and working with them.' This will include patrolling the streets, 'taking on the pickpockets', and officers tackling gangs plotting to rob shops, he said. Another 90 officers are moving to neighbourhood teams that cover six hotspots for robbery and theft – Brixton, Kingston, Ealing, Finsbury Park, Southwark and Spitalfields. The Met is Britain's largest police force, which as of February had 33,201 officers, 11,319 staff, 1,460 police community support officers and 1,127 specials. Sir Mark warned in April that the force is facing a £260 million budget shortfall, with cuts removing the Royal Parks police and dedicated schools officers as a result.
The Independent
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Met Police set to increase use of facial recognition technology amid force restructure
Britain's biggest police force is set to more than double its use of live facial recognition. The move by the Metropolitan Police comes as it restructures to cover the loss of 1,400 officers and 300 staff amid budget shortages and will see up to10 deployments of the technology a week. As part of the latest details of its restructure, the Met announced that live facial recognition will now be used up to 10 times per week across five days, up from the current four times per week across two days. Earlier this month the Met revealed that it had made 1,000 arrests using live facial recognition to date, of which 773 had led to charge or caution. Part of the overhaul will also see officers moved to bulk up the force's public order crime team, as the Met said it has faced increased demand linked to protest-related crimes in the past two years. The squad will go from 48 to 63 officers due to a rise in the number of protests, particularly related to Israel and Palestine, as well as environmental issues. Force chief Sir Mark Rowley said: 'The numbers of protests have grown over the last couple of years. 'We don't have any powers that are there to reduce the number of protests, to cancel them. 'Laws are very permissive and encouraging of protests, which is entirely understandable, and I've got no objection to that, but what we've seen, unfortunately, is a proportion of those create crime and offences.' The facial recognition plans, however, have come under scrutiny. Charlie Whelton, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: 'It's incredibly concerning to see an expansion of facial recognition, especially at a time when there is a complete lack of regulation governing its use. 'Any tech which has the potential to infringe on our rights in the way scanning and identifying millions of people does needs to have robust safeguards around its use, including ensuring that proper independent oversight is in place. 'The government must legislate now to regulate this technology, protect people's rights, and make sure that the law on facial recognition does not get outpaced by the use.' Sir Mark insisted that the technology is responsibly used. 'We're only using it to look for serious offenders like wanted offenders and registered sex offenders. 'We routinely put it out there and capture multiple serious offenders in one go, many of whom have committed serious offences against women or children, or people who are wanted for armed robbery. 'It's a fantastic piece of technology. It's very responsibly used, and that's why most of the public support it.' Officers are also being moved to neighbourhood teams to deal with street crime including phone thefts, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting, with 80 moved to the team that covers the West End, a rise of 50 per cent. Last month, retailers warned that flagship high streets such as Oxford Street in the West End were at risk without urgent national action on crime. While shoplifting hit a record high in 2024 with the number of offences surpassing 500,000 for the first time, High Streets UK, a group that represents 5,000 businesses, called for wider action to deal with all types of crime affecting high streets. 'The West End generates £50 billion for the UK economy,' Sir Mark said. 'It's an enormous wealth generator. It's important we police and protect that well. 'And we think there's more we can do on our own and working with them.' This will include patrolling the streets, 'taking on the pickpockets', and officers tackling gangs plotting to rob shops, he said. Another 90 officers are moving to neighbourhood teams that cover six hotspots for robbery and theft – Brixton, Kingston, Ealing, Finsbury Park, Southwark and Spitalfields. The Met is Britain's largest police force, which as of February had 33,201 officers, 11,319 staff, 1,460 police community support officers and 1,127 specials. Sir Mark warned in April that the force is facing a £260 million budget shortfall, with cuts removing the Royal Parks police and dedicated schools officers as a result.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Met police to more than double use of live facial recognition
Britain's biggest police force is to more than double its use of live facial recognition to up to 10 deployments a week. The move by the Metropolitan police comes as it restructures to cover the loss of 1,400 officers and 300 staff amid budget shortages. Live facial recognition – which involves the matching of faces caught on surveillance camera footage against a police watchlist in real time – will now be used up to 10 times a week across five days, up from the current four times a week across two days. The tactic will be deployed at the Notting Hill carnival over the August bank holiday. An older form of the technology was trialled at the event in 2016 and 2017. Earlier this month, the Met revealed it had made 1,000 arrests using live facial recognition to date, of which 773 had led to a charge or caution. Charlie Whelton, a policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: 'It's incredibly concerning to see an expansion of facial recognition, especially at a time when there is a complete lack of regulation governing its use. 'Any tech which has the potential to infringe on our rights in the way scanning and identifying millions of people does needs to have robust safeguards around its use, including ensuring that proper independent oversight is in place. 'The government must legislate now to regulate this technology, protect people's rights, and make sure that the law on facial recognition does not get outpaced by the use.' The Met commissioner, Mark Rowley, said the technology was used responsibly. He said: 'We're only using it to look for serious offenders like wanted offenders and registered sex offenders. 'We routinely put it out there and capture multiple serious offenders in one go, many of whom have committed serious offences against women or children, or people who are wanted for armed robbery. 'It's a fantastic piece of technology. It's very responsibly used, and that's why most of the public support it.' Part of the Met's overhaul will see officers moved to bulk up the force's public order crime team, as the force said it has faced increased demand linked to protest-related crimes in the past two years. The squad will go from 48 to 63 officers due to a rise in the number of protests, particularly related to Israel and Palestine, as well as environmental issues. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Last month, retailers warned that major high streets such as Oxford Street in the West End of London were at risk without urgent national action on crime. While shoplifting hit a record high in 2024, with the number of offences exceeding 500,000 for the first time, High Streets UK, a group that represents 5,000 UK businesses, called for wider action to deal with all types of crime affecting high streets. In May, a joint investigation by the Guardian and Liberty Investigates found that police believe live facial recognition cameras may become 'commonplace' in England and Wales, according to internal documents, with the number of faces scanned having doubled to nearly 5m in the last year. Police forces scanned nearly 4.7m faces with the technology last year, more than twice as many as in 2023. Live facial recognition vans were deployed at least 256 times in 2024, according to official deployment records, up from 63 the year before. Forces almost doubled the number of retrospective facial recognition searches made last year using the police national database (PND) from 138,720 in 2023 to 252,798. The PND contains custody mugshots, millions of which have been found to be stored unlawfully, of people who have never been charged with or convicted of an offence. The Home Office has been working with the police to establish a new national facial recognition system, known as strategic facial matcher. The platform will be capable of searching a range of databases including custody images and immigration records.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Met to double use of live facial recognition cameras amid falling staff numbers as force battles to crack down on violence in the capital
Britain's biggest police force will more than double its use of live facial recognition to up to ten deployments a week. Scotland Yard announced the move amid mass restructuring to cover the loss of 1,400 officers and 300 staff due to budget shortages. The force will also deploy an extra 80 officers in the crime-ridden West End, where almost 15 per cent of the capital's knife offences take place, according to a recent study. Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said doubling the number of officers across iconic high streets such as Oxford Street would crack down on crimes including phone thefts, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting. Shoplifting hit a record high in 2024 with the number of offences surpassing 500,000 for the first time. The Metropolitan Police is Britain's largest force, which as of February had 33,201 officers, 11,319 staff, 1,460 police community support officers and 1,127 specials. Sir Mark warned in April that the force is facing a £260 million budget shortfall, with cuts affecting the Royal Parks police and dedicated schools officers as a result. Fifty officers will be moved to the anti-robbery Flying Squad, which will no longer lose its firearms officers as had initially been considered. And live facial recognition will now be used up to ten times per week across five days, up from the current four times per week across two days. The Mail revealed earlier this month that the technology is set to be used at Notting Hill Carnival in August for the first time in an unprecedented crackdown on violence at the annual event. Visitors to Europe's biggest street party will be scanned for wanted knife offenders, rapists, robbers and those suspected of serious violent crimes. Last year there were eight stabbings, including one murder, and a second man was beaten and kicked to death. The force has so far made 1,000 arrests using live facial recognition, of which 773 had led to charge or caution. But civil liberties campaigners argue its use is an overreach. Charlie Whelton, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: 'It's incredibly concerning to see an expansion of facial recognition, especially at a time when there is a complete lack of regulation governing its use. 'Any tech which has the potential to infringe on our rights in the way scanning and identifying millions of people does needs to have robust safeguards around its use, including ensuring that proper independent oversight is in place. 'The Government must legislate now to regulate this technology, protect people's rights, and make sure that the law on facial recognition does not get outpaced by the use.' Sir Mark said: 'The Met is getting smaller but more capable. We have a laser-like focus on ensuring our officers and staff are in roles where they can drive down crime on issues that matter the most to Londoners. 'This is what the public expects of the police, which is why we are putting neighbourhood policing first, tackling the crimes that we know are impacting the public in the busiest areas, and making the capital's streets safer.'
Digital Trends
17 hours ago
- Business
- Digital Trends
Reclaim Your Face: How PimEyes Puts You Back in Control
You post a photo online. Maybe it's a headshot, a group pic, or a snapshot from vacation. A week later, your image pops up on a website you've never seen, attached to a name that isn't yours. Welcome to 2025, where an image of your face travels faster than your consent. So, the real question is: Where is your face right now? PimEyes was built to help you find out and do something about it. The Search That Works for You At its core, PimEyes is a facial recognition search engine. But the type that doesn't track you, monetize your identity, or collect your data behind your back. Upload a photo, and PimEyes scans billions of publicly accessible images to show you where your face appears. That's it. You're not required to provide your name or signup. They will not collect biometric data.. And your uploaded image? Automatically deleted within 48 hours unless you ask otherwise. It feels like every tool is built to harvest your data, but PimEyes flips the script. It's a privacy-first platform that treats facial recognition like a personal defense mechanism rather than a surveillance tool. Know. Act. Repeat. Finding your face online is only the beginning. What matters most is what you do about it. With a PimEyes subscription, you get real-time alerts whenever new image matches show up. You can request takedowns from offending websites, track exposure over time with exportable reports, and stay in the loop without lifting a finger. This kind of control truly gives you protection. 'In 2024 alone, we assisted nearly 2,000 PROtect users — predominantly women and girls — by helping them locate and remove over 237,000 images that were posted across various websites without their knowledge or consent' said PimEyes CEO, Giorgi Gobronidze. 'In the process, we have identified and flagged more than 24,000 websites involved in publishing such unauthorized content. This ongoing effort demonstrates our commitment to using our technology to empower individuals, particularly women, who are disproportionately affected by unauthorized image sharing and online harassment. We prioritize providing these users with the tools and support needed to protect their online presence and uphold their rights to privacy and dignity.' Built for Humans, Not Institutions Where others see data to mine, PimEyes sees people to protect. It complies with GDPR's Right to Be Forgotten, offering a transparent opt-out process that removes your likeness from its index entirely. No loopholes. Just your choice, respected. And if you're worried about misuse, you're not alone. PimEyes has banned over 1,000 accounts for violations and doesn't offer API access to corporations or governments. It has zero presence in sanctioned countries and doesn't sell backend access. This platform is for private individuals. Nearly 30% of users who opt out later ask to be re-included. Why? Because awareness is hard to give up. Who Is PimEyes For? Short answer? Everyone. Creatives safeguarding their brand. Parents protecting their kids' digital exposure. Activists navigating hostile environments. Journalists, teachers, everyday people — you name it. You don't need to be tech-savvy or famous. You just need to want control over your digital identity. The Bigger Picture PimEyes isn't perfect, and it doesn't pretend to be. The internet is messy, and ethics in tech are rarely black and white. But in a world where your likeness can be stolen, misused, and misrepresented, PimEyes is giving you something others do not: the opportunity to reign your data in. Their philosophy says it best: 'Your presence. Your rules. Your peace of mind.' Ready to Reclaim Your Digital Identity? If you've ever wondered where your face ends up online, you're not alone and you're not powerless. With PimEyes, see what others see. You can take action. You can set the rules.
