Commissioner welcomes High Court ruling on Live Facial Recognition in London

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Dr Brian Plastow has today welcomed the High Court dismissal of a judicial review challenge by privacy campaigners to the legality of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) policy on Live Facial Recognition. In the judgment approved by the court for handing down (Thomson and Carlo) it was held that the MPS policy on Live Facial Recognition deployments did not breach human rights law and that appropriate legal safeguards were in place.

The Commissioner has also welcomed the statement from Sarah Jones MP; the UK Minister of State (Minister for Policing and Crime) that record investment will be made by the Home Office on LFR making it available to every police force in England and Wales.

The Commissioner would welcome a similar funding announcement by the next Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Justice after the Scottish Parliamentary elections and has previously highlighted the risks to public safety should Police Scotland become the only police service in mainland Great Britain without access to such protective technology