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.
To access the full document please open the PDF document above.
To view as accessible content please use the sections below. (Note that tables and images are not available as accessible content).
Public polling on the use of emerging technologies
In 2022, the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner commissioned a report into public attitudes on the police use of biometric data. Though not specifically relating to LFR, this report found 66% agreed that police should use facial recognition technology in public spaces to identify those wanted by the police. The Authority has commissioned further polling to provide an update to this polling, however the results of this polling are not available at time of writing.
Further polling has included trend analysis to determine the Scottish public’s perception on the use of technology. Of particular relevance is that more people feel the benefits outweigh the risks in regards to ‘Facial recognition computers which can learn identities through CCTV video to catch criminals’ compared to those who feel the risks outweigh the benefits. This saw a decline from 32% in 2020 to 20% in 2022. However, 75% of respondents were in favour of police adopting LFR.
Research has found that 60% of the public reported that they were ‘comfortable’ with police use of identification biometric systems (such as facial recognition in crowded spaces to identify suspects). However, if LFR is used in other contexts, this level of comfort may increase or decrease.
Concerns around the use of LFR in policing have centred on the capabilities of the technology, the legal framework and the disproportionate impact of LFR on the right to privacy. These are discussed in more detail in the Human Rights and Ethical Considerations section.
