Met to double use of live facial recognition
It's part of the force's plans to improve policing with less staff
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 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 lauded an additional 80 officers moving to cover the West End, an increase of 50%, to crack down on crimes including phone thefts, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting.
Last month, retailers warned that flagship high streets like 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 UK businesses, called for wider action to deal with all types of crime affecting high streets.
Another 90 officers are joining 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 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.
It also 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.
The technology is set to be used at Notting Hill Carnival in August for the first time.
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."