Clacton: Key arrests follow first Live Facial Recognition deployment

Officers had five positive alerts and made three arrests during the first deployment of our new Live Facial Recognition technology.

Thursday 22 August saw the first deployment of our new Live Facial Recognition (LFR) vans at the Clacton Airshow.

We use the technology to find people wanted for serious offences, to help enforce orders against those whose faces are put on a ‘watch list’ and to protect those who are vulnerable and at risk of harm.

If your face is not on the watch list, the technology deletes your image in a fraction of a second. It’s not retained and it’s not stored on a database.

The technology is so clever, it can recognise someone’s face even if it is partially covered.

As part of the deployment on Thursday (22 August) and Friday (23 August), there were five positive alerts and three arrests.

These included an arrest relating to a domestic assault and a common assault.

'An investment in our communities'

Chief Superintendent Leighton Hammett said:

“This shows that the Live Facial Recognition technology can have a positive impact on investigations.
“We have been able to identify and speak to people we had been looking for in connection with ongoing investigations and either make arrests, make appointments, or get information which has furthered our enquiries.
“This technology is an investment in our communities.
“It’s an effective way of finding people we want to speak to and keeping the public safe.
“This was highlighted by the successful trial deployments in October 2023.
“Using LFR to find someone can be a more efficient use of resources than a team of officers carrying out various time-consuming enquiries to locate them.
“This technology can save time and effort of our officers, leaving them able to do other work to protect and help the public, and further investigations.
“Cutting edge technology is playing an important role in protecting the public, responding to and investigating crimes, and getting justice for victims.
“LFR technology is used located people we want to speak to in connection with ongoing investigations and to manage individuals with court orders or conditions and equally protect those who are most at risk of harm.
“Criminals cannot think that they can walk around our communities without being caught.
“We already use retrospective facial recognition technology to identify people suspect of offences from things like CCTV images.
“This is an efficient and effective way of locating people we want to speak to.
“During a trial in October 2023, we had five positive alerts across two days leading to three arrests including for rape and robbery.”

The LFR vans will be deployed in Southend on Bank Holiday Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.

Find out more about Live Facial Recognition by visiting our dedicated page here.

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