Report Summary
The Chair of the Scottish Police Authority launched a national conversation on the potential use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) in Scotland in June 2024. This paper aims to provide a summary of the available information on the use of LFR in a policing context.
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Human Rights and Ethical Considerations
There are concerns around use of LFR. The following list outlines some key areas:
Accuracy in identifying people
Breaching people’s right to privacy and freedom of expression
Bias in how LFR technology identifies people (e.g. less accurate in identifying some skin tones than others)
The reasons for use of LFR by UK police forces being too broad
There needs to be recognised safeguards in place – appropriate sign off, appropriate public and transparent assurance and information on deployments etc.
Being open with the public around use of LFR, and how it is used, has been shown to be important in relation to police usage of this technology, and there has been independent guidance published on how to do this well.
Work is underway in England and Wales to ensure independent oversight of new technology used by police forces – including LFR.
In Scotland, we have the ‘Rights Based Pathway’ to support decision making and maintain public trust in Police Scotland when adopting new technology. The Pathway puts the examination of ethical issues and public engagement considerations at its heart.
Police Scotland have various governance measures in place in relation to handling biometric data (which is what LFR would produce).
