(LD):...In the
successful appeal of Liberal Democrat Councillor Ed Bridges, the
Court of Appeal case on the police use of live facial recognition
issued in August 2020, the court ruled that South Wales
Police’s use of such technology had not been in
accordance with the law on several grounds, including in relation
to certain human rights convention rights, data protection
legislation and the public sector equality duty. So it was with
considerable pleasure that I read the Justice and Home Affairs
Committee report, which noted the complicated institutional
landscape around the adoption of this kind of technology,
emphasised the need for public trust and recommended a stronger
legal framework with primary legislation embodying general
principles supported by detailed regulation, a single national
regulatory body, minimum scientific standards, and local or
regional ethics committees put on a statutory basis...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office () (Con):...Someone,
but I am afraid I have forgotten who, asked: does it actually
work? The answer is yes. I have a large number of examples but in
the time available I will provide one: all forces use facial
recognition retrospectively. South Wales
Police produces around 100 identifications a month,
which, as a noble Lord—I forget who—noted, reduces certification
time from 14 days to a matter of hours. South
Wales Police and the Met have also used live facial
recognition technology and successfully disrupted things like
mobile phone theft gangs, with no reported thefts at rock
concerts, for example, and there were 70 arrests overall during
various trials, including for offences as severe as rape, robbery
and other forms of violence.
The noble Lord, , raised the Bridges
case. That was a compliance failure by South
Wales Police The court confirmed that there was a
legal basis in common law and a legal framework including human
rights, data protection and equalities law, in which live facial
recognition and, by extension, other technologies could be
usefully carried out. Since the judgment, the College of Policing
has published an authorised professional practice clarifying the
“who” and “where” questions.
On the question of potential bias, noble Lords will be interested
to know that the US National Institute of Standards and
Technology, which is generally recognised as the world’s premier
outfit of this type, found that the algorithm that South Wales
Police and the Met use shows almost indetectable
bias...
To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE
