Three arrests from town centre facial recognition

Three people were arrested after a police force used live facial recognition (LFR) vans in a town for a second time, figures show.

Thames Valley Police (TVP) used LFR cameras in Slough's High Street on Tuesday and scanned 7,729 faces between about 11:00 BST and 12:45.

The technology has been criticised by some civil liberty groups but a challenge against the Metropolitan Police's use of it was dismissed at the High Court the same day.

Following the case's conclusion, policing minister Sarah Jones said law-abiding citizens have "nothing to fear" as the technology "only locates specifically wanted people".

Youth worker Shaun Thompson and Silkie Carlo, director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, brought the case because of concerns that LFR could be used arbitrarily or in a discriminatory way.

Thompson was misidentified as his brother by LFR in 2024 and stopped, detained and questioned by police in London after he was matched by the technology.

At the time his brother was on bail for a suspected violent offence.

TVP's figures show about 52,600 faces were scanned at the Eden Centre in High Wycombe on 3 March. Though two people were arrested, at least one was not connected to LFR's deployment.

It was also used at The Lexicon in Bracknell on 5 March, where just over 20,000 people's faces were scanned.

Another three people were arrested after TVP's vans were deployed to Cornmarket Street in Oxford on 20 March. About 37,700 people's faces were scanned there.

They were also used in Market Square in Aylesbury on 13 April and in Chesham's High Street on 20 April.

About 12,100 and 6,400 people's faces were scanned there, respectively but no one was arrested.