13-08-2025
PETER HITCHENS: The march of facial recognition cameras is so sinister. Police say they get results... but they send a shiver down my spine and they should yours too
Hurrying into London 's Paddington Station the other evening, late for my train, I was amazed to see a large white van with odd-shaped devices and aerials on its roof, guarded by long, white, sinister cameras on heavy black tripods and adorned with a prominent label declaring 'Live facial recognition in operation'.
It had an alien, disturbing appearance, though nobody bothered me when I snatched a quick picture of it as part of my own perpetual surveillance of modern Britain. A relaxed young woman in jeans was (as I recall) munching a sandwich in its open side door, and did not look either as if she had just been captured or as if she was part of a snatch squad, but who knows, these days?
