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looorg [soylentnews.org] writes:

I spy with my many cameras a face. A six month project. Millions of scanned faces. Nobody on any watch list found. Are the crooks to smarts to be caught on camera or don't they ride the tube?

Solution? Extend the scope of the project for a longer time period and include more stations.

A six-month trial of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in London’s railway stations that cost more than £320,000 and almost 100 hours of police officers’ time led to one false match against a watchlist of suspects and no arrests.

More than half a million faces were scanned between February and July this year in some of the capital’s busiest transport hubs during the British Transport Police (BTP) trial of the surveillance technology, which aimed to help catch offenders and people breaching court orders.

They added: “During these deployments, officers have made a number of associated arrests, including for assault, theft, possession of an offensive weapon, breach of a criminal behaviour order and public order offences, as well as locating individuals wanted by the courts and other police forces. As these arrests did not result directly from an LFR alert, they are not included within LFR performance data.

Or there are hidden side effects that they failed to include. It wasn't the purpose. But they found a purpose.

Still the question should perhaps be asked -- worthwhile project or waste of money?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/29/trial-live-facial-recognition-cameras-london-stations-false-positive [theguardian.com]

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