Five arrests made during Live Facial Recognition trial in Ipswich
It was based at Cornhill
Police have revealed they made five arrests during a trial of Live Facial Recognition technology in Ipswich.
The force says it also led to engagement with around 400 people in the town centre.
Using equipment from Essex police the technology was based at the Cornhill on Saturday (22 Feb) and used to locate people wanted in connection with criminal investigations.
Four of the arrests were for failing to appear before court and a fifth was for shop theft.
The technology compares live camera feeds of faces against a predetermined database or ‘watch list’ of people of interest, meaning, if you’re not on the ‘watch list’ your face cannot be matched.
On Saturday, over the six hour period it was in use in Ipswich at the Cornhill, the technology scanned just over 47,000 faces.
The data/image of those not on the ‘watchlist’ was automatically and immediately deleted and not stored.
Where there was a positive match, officers on the ground took action, confirmed a person's ID and then worked out what their next action would be.
"Pleasing to see such a positive outcome"
Assistant Chief Constable Eamonn Bridger said: ”This technology has been proven elsewhere to be an effective tactic for locating and arresting suspects so it was pleasing to see such a positive outcome with our trial in Ipswich.
“This innovative technology can play a vital role in protecting people, keeping them safe, investigating crimes, and getting justice for victims. It also means we are saving time and effort for our officers, leaving them able to do other work to protect and help the public.
“It was also very encouraging to see the public expressing curiosity and approaching us on the day to learn and understand more about the technology. Plenty of the public took the time look inside the van and see the system in action with virtually everyone, bar a couple of exceptions, very receptive and positive.
“We were able to show the public how the system operates and show how the data is deleted and faces are blurred in less than a second if they are not matched against the watchlist.
“We will now reflect on the trial in detail and I am optimistic that we will be using this technology again in the future."
"Positive and immediate results"
Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore said: “I’m really pleased to see such positive and immediate results from this live facial recognition trial. This technology has huge potential to bring criminals to justice and to prevent crime, which I trust is welcomed by everyone.
“This technology has had a very positive impact on reducing levels of crime and improving detection rates in other forces and I am grateful to Essex for their support in this being trialled in Suffolk.
“I look forward to seeing the fuller results when the trial is completed – anything we can do to keep Suffolk safe by protecting homes and business has my full support.”
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