Police facial recognition van comes to Newquay this week

Walk through Newquay any time this week and a camera might read your face. Devon & Cornwall Police is switching on Live Facial Recognition for the first time, and the county’s opening deployment lands in the town from 6 to 8 August. The Force calls it a new way to find wanted people faster. If the idea of being scanned on a busy street gives you pause, here is exactly how it works and what happens to your face if you are not the person they are looking for.

What Live Facial Recognition actually does

LFR compares a live camera feed against a set watchlist. That list can include people wanted by police in connection with criminal investigations. The system captures measurements of a person’s facial features and turns them into a mathematical representation, then checks that against the known faces on the list.

The key point for everyone else on the street is simple. If you are not on the list, you cannot be matched.

What happens to your face if you are not wanted

Images of people who are not on the watchlist are automatically and permanently deleted within seconds. Devon & Cornwall Police say they do not retain the data.

When the system flags a possible match, it does not act on its own. Trained officers on the ground review the suggestion and decide whether to approach the person. Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said that human step is central to using the technology responsibly.

“The human element is an important part of using LFR responsibly, so there will always be uniformed officers on the ground who will corroborate any possible matches before engaging with that person in an appropriate manner,” he said.

Where and when you will see it

The van will move around Devon and Cornwall to support policing operations, not just Newquay. Members of the public will see a marked van, and the area where it is operating will be clearly signposted so people know it is there.

Every deployment will be published on the Force website with a minimum of seven days’ notice.

Why the Force says it is doing this

Matt Longman said the aim is to add a tool rather than replace officers. “We want to make the best use of technology and LFR provides officers with an additional tool to help locate wanted people more quickly, prevent crime and keep communities safe,” he said.

He acknowledged that not everyone will be comfortable with it. “People may have concerns about Live Facial Recognition technology, so we are committed to being open about where we are using it, when it is used and the safeguards that are in place to ensure it is used in a transparent and proportionate way.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez backed the rollout. “The police need to use every tool available to find wanted criminals and take them off our streets,” she said. “The use of live facial recognition has been tried and tested elsewhere, and I am pleased to see our communities here in Devon and Cornwall benefiting from this technology.”

The Force has published a set of frequently asked questions on Live Facial Recognition for anyone who wants the detail before the van arrives.