£320,786 Spent, 500,000 Scanned: Britain's Rail Facial Recognition Made No Arrests
September 30, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
British Transport Police spent £320,786 scanning more than half a million passengers at London railway stations over six months. The live facial recognition system generated one alert, which was a false positive, and produced no arrests.
One. That is the number of alerts British Transport Police's live facial recognition system generated after scanning more than half a million railway passengers across London over six months. The alert was wrong.
A freedom of information document obtained by Liberty Investigates shows that eighteen deployments between February and July this year cost £320,786 in equipment hire and police staffing, consumed almost 100 hours of officers' time, and produced a single match against a watchlist of wanted suspects. That match turned out to be an incorrect identification, a false positive. No arrests came from the system at all.
British Transport Police framed the trial as a tool to catch offenders and identify people breaching court orders. Transport for London, which backed an extension of the programme, said the technology "will target and identify people on police watchlists at key stations chosen for maximum impact" and would "specifically tackle violence against women and girls, whose travel behaviours are shaped by experiences of sexual harassment and sexual offences." The numbers produced by the trial do not support that confidence.
BTP has since extended the trial for a further four months and expanded deployments to include London Underground stations. A BTP spokesperson told Liberty Investigates and the Guardian that officers made arrests during the trial period for assault, theft, possession of an offensive weapon, breach of a criminal behaviour order and public order offences, and located individuals wanted by courts. The force added that none of those arrests resulted directly from an LFR alert, which is why they are excluded from the official performance data. The system itself, on its own terms, scored zero.
Fraser Sampson, the former Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner for the United Kingdom and now a non-executive director of Facewatch, a company that operates facial recognition systems in retail outlets, drew the distinction plainly. "We know the technology works," Sampson said, "but using it in supermarkets to deter shoplifters and prevent attacks on staff is very different from deploying it to catch people on a public transport network. Success in a shop means no such people coming in. Success for the police trying to catch people means people being caught. In that respect the trial doesn't appear to have been very fruitful." He also noted that the system's output depends entirely on the composition of the watchlist: anyone not on it is not detected by the system and their image is not retained in the same way as it would be by CCTV cameras, but everyone scanned is having their biometric data processed under special category rules.
Parliament's joint committee on human rights, in a recent report calling on the government to legislate on artificial intelligence and human rights, identified the rollout of live facial recognition as a "particularly clear example of risk." Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, argued the government should suspend the rollout until stronger safeguards and a proper legal framework are in place. "Tackling violence against women and girls on public transport must be an urgent priority," she said, "but that means investing in what actually works, not spending more than £320,000 on a measure which, when piloted, resulted in zero arrests and a single false alert."
More than half of police forces in England and Wales have now deployed live facial recognition on public streets, according to analysis by Liberty Investigates. The Metropolitan Police and the Mayor of London's office announced this summer that fixed cameras will go into the West End. Mayor Sadiq Khan has confirmed the technology will be used on the newly pedestrianised Oxford Street.
£320,786 for a single incorrect match is not a performance metric. It is a price.
FryskIen. Dat is it oantal alerts dat it libbende gesichtswerkenningssysteem fan British Transport Police oplevere nei it scannen fan mear as in heale miljoen spoarreizigers yn Londen yn seis moannen. De alert wie ferkeard.
In dokumint ûnder de wet op frijheid fan ynformaasje, krige troch Liberty Investigates, lit sjen dat achttjin ynsettings tusken febrewaris en july dit jier £320,786 kostje oan apparatuerhier en plysjebemanningsynset, hast 100 oere fan plysjetiid ferbruikten, en ien oerienkomst mei in watchlist fan sochte fertochten oplevere. Dy oerienkomst bliek in ferkearde identifikaasje te wêzen, in falsk positif. Út it systeem kaam gjin inkelde arrestaasje foart.
British Transport Police presintearre de proef as in ark om diaders te fangen en persoanen te identifisearjen dy't rjochtbankoarders oertrêdzje. Transport for London, dat in ferlingjen fan it programma stipe, sei dat de technology "sil rjochte wurde op minsken op plysje-watchlisten op kaaistasjonnen útkeazen foar maksimaal effekt" en "spesifyk geweld tsjin froulju en famkes oanpakke soe, wêrfan it reisgedrach foarme wurdt troch ûnderfinings fan seksuele lêst en seksuele delikten." De sifers fan de proef stypje dat fertrouwen net.
BTP hat de proef sûntdien ferlingd mei noch fjouwer moannen en de ynsettings útwreide nei stasjonnen fan de London Underground. In wurdfierder fan BTP fertelde Liberty Investigates en the Guardian dat plysjeamtners tidens de proefperioade arrestearren foar oanslaach, diefstal, besit fan in gefaarlik wapen, oertreding fan in krimineel gedrach-oarder en foarfallen tsjin de iepenbiere oarder, en persoanen opspoarden dy't troch rjochtbanken socht waarden. De plysje foege dêr oan ta dat gjin fan dy arrestaasjes direkt út in LFR-alert fuortkaam, wêrtroch se útsletten binne fan de offisjele prestaasjegegevens. It systeem sels, op syn eigen betingsten, skoarde nul.
Fraser Sampson, de eardere Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner foar it Feriene Keninkryk en no non-eksekutive direkteur fan Facewatch, in bedriuw dat gesichtswerkenningssystemen eksploitearret yn winkels, luts de ûnderskieding helder. "Wy witte dat de technology wurket," sei Sampson, "mar it brûken derfan yn supermerkten om winkeldieven te ûntmoedigjen en oanfallen op personiel te foarkommen is hiel oars as it ynsetten derfan om minsken op in iepenbier ferfiernetwerk te fangen. Súkses yn in winkel betsjut dat sokke minsken net binnenkome. Súkses foar de plysje dy't minsken besykje te fangen betsjut dat minsken fongen wurde. Yn dat opsicht liket de proef net tige fruchtber west te hawwen." Hy merkte ek op dat de útput fan it systeem folslein ôfhinget fan de gearstalling fan de watchlist: eltsenien dy't dêrop net stiet wurdt troch it systeem net opspoord en syn of har ofbylding wurdt net op deselde wize bewarre as troch CCTV-kamera's, mar fan elkenien dy't scand wurdt, wurde biometryske gegevens ferwurke ûnder regels foar spesjale kategoryen.
It mienskiplik komitee fan it Parlemint foar minskerjochten, yn in resint rapport wêryn de regearing frege waard wetjouwing te meitsjen oer keunstmjittige yntelliginsje en minskerjochten, identifisearre de útrol fan libbende gesichtswerkenning as in "benammen dúdlik foarbyld fan risiko." Bell Ribeiro-Addy, it Labour-parlementslid foar Clapham en Brixton Hill, stelde dat de regearing de útrol útstelle moat oant sterkere befeiliging en in deugelik juridysk ramt op syn plak binne. "It oanpakken fan geweld tsjin froulju en famkes op iepenbier ferfier moat in dringjende prioriteit wêze," sei se, "mar dat betsjut ynvestearjen yn wat echt wurket, net mear as £320,000 útjaan oan in maatregel dy't, doe't it yn de proef útfierd waard, resulteare yn nul arrestaasjes en ien inkelde falske alert."
Mear as de helte fan de plysjekorpsen yn Ingelân en Wales hawwe no libbende gesichtswerkenning op iepenbiere strjitten ynset, neffens analyse fan Liberty Investigates. De Metropolitan Police en it kantoar fan de Boargemaster fan Londen kundigen dizze simmer oan dat fêste kamera's yn de West End pleatst wurde sille. Boargemaster Sadiq Khan hat befêstigd dat de technology brûkt wurde sil op de nij foar fuotgongers tagonklik makke Oxford Street.
£320,786 foar ien ferkearde oerienkomst is gjin prestaasjesifer. It is in priis.
Published September 30, 2026 · Frisian News