Hackney councillors voice concern over potential rollout of live facial recognition

Critical: Dalston councillor and London Assembly Member Zoë Garbett

Hackney councillors have voiced concern over the police’s potential use of live facial recognition (LFR) in the borough, despite local police saying it is “needed”.

“Live facial recognition is a reversal of the presumption of innocence – the democratic principle that you shouldn’t be spied on unless police suspect you of wrongdoing”, Dalston councillor and London Assembly Member Zoë Garbett told the Citizen.

“Live facial recognition subjects us all to spying”.

Her comments come after a live facial recognition trial on was conducted last month (11 July) in two locations – Mare Street and Kingsland Road.

The purpose of the trial was to show councillors the benefits of LFR, demonstrate how it operates in real time, and answer their questions and concerns.

In January this year, a Green party council motion was passed to “not agree to the deployment of live facial recognition in Hackney until the Council is satisfied that the potential benefits to crime reduction will not lead to a further erosion of trust and confidence in policing in Hackney.”

A Hackney Council spokesperson said: “Live facial recognition is not in use in Hackney. Following a Council motion in January, the Met [Police] agreed to consult with councillors of all parties using a demonstration in Mare Street. Any decision to deploy it would rest with the police.”

Seven people were arrested during the trial.

One man was arrested for grievous bodily harm (GBH) and possession of an offensive weapon, another for a racially aggravated public order offence and three men were wanted by the police for sexual assault.

One man was arrested for four burglaries.

Two women were also arrested, one of whom has been wanted by the police since 2013.

“Across Europe, countries have banned the use of live facial recognition in public places and only use it in specific situations. But not in the UK where use is increasing with limited regulation,” said Cllr Garbett, commenting on the wider context.

“The Met [Police] states that the technology is not biased but the Met have a long history of discriminatory policing so Hackney residents need more assurance that the technology cannot be misused by officers.”

Cllr Garbett said residents have expressed apprehension about how the technology is used on children, and whether, in the future, non-violent offenders or peaceful protesters will be added to watch lists.

In a statement, the Hackney Independent Socialist group told the Citizen: “Whilst the police might find live facial recognition a faster process to catch potential criminals, we share the view of many across the country and Europe… [that] LFR does not yet have public confidence due to the high risk of misidentifications, including a disproportionality amongst community members from global majorities”.

“We support due processes of justice however we do not believe our highly diverse borough with a high proportion of global majority communities is the best place to roll out a system without sufficient evidence of its efficiency, scrutiny and accuracy”.

A spokesperson for LFR, who was present at the trial on Mare Street, told the Citizen that there are “myths” surrounding the flaws of the technology.

“There is no gender or racial bias in live facial recognition”, he said. “And as for misidentification – that only happens in one in 6,000 cases”.

The spokesperson added that no arrests are made just based of live facial recognition, and police officers go through a process of identification verification before anyone is put in handcuffs.

“LFR is only step A”, he explained, “after that there’s B, C, D, E, all of which are carried out by police officers themselves”.

Inspector Mohammed Uddin from the Hackney neighbourhood policing team said he would like the technology to be used in the borough every couple of months.

“Live facial recognition is needed in places like Mare Street, which is a hotspot for crime,” he said.

“People come from out of the borough, commit thefts and burglaries, and then can immediately hop on the overground and be out of the area in minutes.

“The issue there is, as local police, we know the people in the area, but not those from outside our patches. Live facial recognition helps us to identify those people”.

One man who was arrested on 11 July was from Tottenham.

“I want residents to feel safe, and I also want criminals to think of Hackney as a no-go zone”, Inspector Uddin continued.

He added that for him and his team, live facial recognition was about “building trust with the local community”.

“It’s about saying we’re here, and we’ve not forgotten about those impacted by high levels of criminal activity”.

Hackney’s mayor, Caroline Woodley, and Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas, the cabinet member for community safety and regulatory service, were present at the trial.

Cllr Fajana-Thomas was asked for her opinion to the trial on the day, but she said she would not speak to the Citizen, and said all questions must be put to Hackney council press office.

The Citizen then approached the council press office to asked Mayor Woodley’s response and that of Cllr Fajana-Thomas to the live facial recognition trial.

The press office said the Mayor and cabinet member would not be commenting.

Last month, the prime minister Keir Starmer proposed to expand the use of live facial recognition technology in response to the violent disorder around the country after the stabbing and murder of three girls in Southport, Lancashire.