00:00The Metropolitan Police trial of live facial recognition in South London has been credited with cutting robbery and shoplifting, resulting in more than 100 arrests.
00:11Now, the pilot scheme rolled out in Croydon last October marked a shift away from the Met's usual mobile camera vans.
00:20Instead, fixed cameras were installed on street furniture along the borough's busy North End shopping strip.
00:28The technology scans facial features and checks them against police watch lists.
00:35According to the Met, a third of those arrested were wanted for offences against women and girls, including serious crimes such as strangulation and sexual offences as well.
00:47The trial comes as the force faces a high court challenge over its use of facial recognition following a case which last year a man was wrongly identified near London Bridge.
01:02Fifteen cameras were mounted on lampposts at two points along North End, one of Croydon's busiest high streets.
01:12Officers activated the system on 13 occasions during a three-month pilot.
01:19Sergeant Kevin Brown from the Met's LFR team said the cameras are only switched on when police are physically present and stressed that any biometric data captured from members of the public who are not wanted by the police is immediately and permanently deleted.
01:38Out of 103 arrests made, Sergeant Brown said only one was triggered by a false alert and no arrest was carried out in that case.
01:48But how would the Londoners feel about facial recognition here in the capital?
01:53I think there can be good sides and bad sides.
01:59One of the bad sides is that the facial recognition is not always accurate, so they can accidentally pin a crime on the wrong person.
02:06And then they say, that's not me. And then they're showing video proof and then they're insisting it's them.
02:12So in that case, some people could be taken to jail for the wrong crimes.
02:16But on the plus side as well, like if people fear that they're being monitored, maybe they won't commit as many crimes.
02:22So it's about finding the right balance and making sure that it's ethical as well.
02:29Well, obviously, crime going down is a good thing.
02:31But I think the problem with facial recognition is, you know, we are seeing other countries slipping more and more into authoritarian regimes.
02:42And yeah, it's, you know, so far, you know, it's OK.
02:48But as we slip more and more into authoritarianism, then we're, you know, with this facial recognition technology, we could be in big trouble.
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