Northamptonshire Police criticised for using 'Orwellian' AI technology which scanned the faces of 380k people at major event

Northamptonshire Police has been criticised over their use of “Orwellian” artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which scanned the faces of nearly 400,000 people at the British Grand Prix.

Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology was deployed by Northamptonshire Police at the British Grand Prix weekend, which took place at Silverstone Circuit on July 8 and July 9.

It was the first time LFR had been deployed outside of the South Wales and Metropolitan Police areas, and was said to be used by the county force for the sole purpose of fighting crime and protecting people in attendance.

The technology works by scanning faces with a camera to match biometrics against those held on a watchlist – which is generated by the police and focuses on those who pose the greatest risk of danger to the wider public, say officers.

The watchlist includes suspects who are wanted for offences or have an outstanding warrant for an arrest issued by the courts, those who pose a risk of harm to themselves or others, and vulnerable missing people, according to police.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Northamptonshire Police has revealed just under 380,000 individuals had their faces passively scanned by the technology on Saturday, July 8 and Sunday, July 9.

However, out of those 380,000 faces scanned, not a single person was ‘flagged’ by the system, and not a single person was arrested.

Madeleine Stone of Big Brother Watch criticised the force’s use of the technology, saying it is “highly ineffective” and “Orwellian”.

Ms Stone said: “LFR is a highly intrusive mass surveillance tool that turns the public into walking ID cards. Almost half a million innocent people have had their faces scanned by Northamptonshire Police, only for the force to get no matches and make no arrests. The criminal justice system is under huge pressure, yet considerable police resources are being wasted on this highly ineffective and Orwellian mass surveillance technology.

“The UK’s reckless approach to face surveillance makes us a total outlier in the democratic world, and it must urgently be banned."

A Northamptonshire Police spokeswoman said: “The force used LFR technology for the first time at this year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July.

“We are continuing to monitor national developments in this area given its clear potential to support the fight against crime, bring offenders to justice and protect the wider public.”