Commissioner writes to new Cabinet Secretary for Justice about Live Facial Recognition

The recent King’s Speech confirmed that the UK Government intend bringing forward primary legislation to support expansion of the police use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) in England and Wales. Accordingly, the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner, Dr Brian Plastow has written to the new Cabinet Secretary for Justice to enquire whether the new Scottish Government will do likewise.

The Commissioner recognises the often-controversial nature of LFR in policing, but advocates equitability of access to such technology in Scotland. The Commissioner sees this as essential to enable Police Scotland to respond effectively to serious and organised crime group activity, as part of counter-terrorism policing operations, to assist in the co-ordination of UK-wide activity against county-lines drug dealers, and as part of a strategic policing response to address the national emergency of male violence towards women and girls.

A copy of the letter can be found here