Welsh police forces launch first facial recognition mobile app

 

Police officers in South Wales and Gwent are to be given a mobile phone app which allows them to confirm the identity of an unknown person with the touch of a button.

They will become the first in the UK to use technology to identify individuals in near real time through a facial recognition app.

It will enable officers to confirm the identity of someone who is missing, at risk or wanted in circumstances when they’re unable to provide details, refuse to give details or provide false details.

The app can also be used on someone who has passed away or are unconscious – helping officers to identify them promptly so their family can be reached with care and compassion.

Known as Operator Initiated Facial Recognition (OIFR), it has already been tested by 70 officers across South Wales who were able to use it in a range of scenarios where people either refused to identify themselves or provided false details.

In cases where someone is wanted by police for a criminal offence, it secures their quick arrest and detention. Cases of mistaken identity are easily resolved and without the necessity to visit a police station or custody suite.

Photographs taken using the app are never retained and in private places such as houses, schools, medical facilities and places of worship the app will only be used in situations relating to a risk of significant harm.

T/Assistant Chief Constable Trudi Meyrick of South Wales Police said:

"Police officers have always been able to spot someone who they think is missing or wanted and stop them in the street. What this technology does is enhance their ability to accurately confirm a person’s identity, helping to ensure a fair and transparent resolution.

"This mobile phone app means that with the taking of a single photograph which is compared to the police database, officers can easily and quickly answer the question of ‘Are you really the person we are looking for?’. When dealing with a person of interest during their patrols in our communities, officers will be able to access instant information allowing them to identify whether the person stopped is, or isn’t, the person they need to speak to, without having to return to a police station.

"This technology doesn’t replace traditional means of identifying people and our police officers will only be using it in instances where it is both necessary and proportionate to do so, with the aim of keeping that particular individual, or the wider public, safe."

Facial recognition is just one way in which technological advancements are being used across South Wales and Gwent forces with the aim of making the work of police officers easier and faster so that they can have more time to work at keeping communities safe.

T/Assistant Chief Constable Nick McLain of Gwent Police said:

"Embracing technology and innovation is an integral part of effective policing and public safety. I am proud that Gwent and South Wales Police are jointly leading the way in this field with the introduction of the first facial recognition app.

"The use of this technology always involves human decision-making and oversight, ensuring that it is used lawfully, ethically, and in the public interest. We have a robust scrutiny process in place to ensure accountability and testing found no evidence of racial, age or gender bias.

"By implementing this app, we are preventing harm, helping those in need and keeping our communities safe."

 

Results from the pilot - December 2021 to March 2022

Thirty-nine photographs obtained were of male subjects and three were obtained of females. There were no uses recorded against an unknown gender.

Of the 42 uses of the app with 35 individual subjects photographed, the following reasons were recorded:

• Refused to provide details: Seven
• Suspected false details: 18
• Unable to provide details: 17

The following grounds were recorded:

• Suspected of an offence: 30
• Suspected missing person: Nine
• Deceased: Two
• Suspected to suffer harm: One

The feedback from officers involved in the trial is that the app is user-friendly and a benefit to operational policing. There have been occasions when the use of the app has led to vehicles being seized from disqualified drivers who have lied about their identity.

It has been used on shoplifters who have lied to try and avoid arrest to gain an out of court disposal. The app has been used twice with deceased persons, one of which resulted in a match which allowed officers to speed up the formal identification process following a fatal RTC. In these circumstances it could prevent a family learning of a death of a loved one via social media or a third party.

The app has allowed the safe return of a 15-year-old missing person from another part of the UK who it identified after he refused to give his details. He was returned to a place of safety after being identified using the app. Officers in South Wales were then able to contact the missing person’s home force to inform them of his whereabouts.

Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) FAQs and further information.