00:00Facial recognition technology is now being used to clamp down on the use of illegal e-bikes
00:08in London. The head of the Met Police, Sir Mark Rowley, said that rules around e-bikes
00:14and e-scooters are clear and pretty tough, with e-bike motors required to cut out at
00:2115.5mph and e-scooters being banned in London unless they are higher scooters. Police have
00:28found some are illegally modified to reach faster speeds or to enable them to be powered
00:35without the pedals being turned. E-bikes travelling above 15.5mph are treated as motorbikes, which
00:43must be registered, taxed and insured. E-bikes are of course also often used in phone snatching.
00:50Sir Mark said these facial recognition cameras can work fast enough to scan the faces of illegal
00:58e-bike riders who can then be stopped in specialised operations. Currently police use three types
01:06of facial recognition. Retrospective used in criminal investigations to search images from
01:13crime scenes against images of people taken on arrest. Live using live video footage of
01:20people passing cameras and comparing their images with a list of wanted people and operator initiated
01:28a mobile app that allows officers to check someone's identity without arresting them.
01:34The Home Office funded £12.6 million in facial recognition technology last year, including
01:41mobile vans and fixed location pilots.
