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🚨British Transport Police Spend £320K on Facial Recognition Pilot

Facial Recognition Pilot Fails to Detect a Single Correct Match

TL;DR

British Transport Police spent £320K on a six-month facial recognition pilot, scanning over 500,000 faces but generating only one false positive alert. The system, using NEC's NeoFace M40 tech, failed to produce any correct matches or arrests.

British Transport Police spent over £320,000 on a six-month facial recognition pilot, scanning over 500,000 faces at London railway stations. The system generated just one alert, which was a false positive, and produced no correct matches or arrests. The exercise cost almost 100 hours of police officers' time. Despite targeting crime hotspots, the technology failed to deliver on its promise, raising questions about its effectiveness and the lack of specific legislation governing its use.

British Transport Police Spend £320K on Facial Recognition Pilot — theregister

Key Points

1

The British Transport Police spent £320,000 on a six-month facial recognition pilot.

2

The system scanned over 500,000 faces at London railway stations.

3

The pilot generated one false positive alert, with no correct matches or arrests.

4

The exercise cost almost 100 hours of police officers' time.

5

The system uses NEC's NeoFace M40 facial recognition technology.

Why It Matters

The £320K facial recognition pilot by the British Transport Police failed to produce any correct matches or arrests, highlighting the technology's limitations. This raises serious questions about its effectiveness and the need for specific legislation to govern its use. If you're involved in public safety tech, this is a wake-up call.

facial recognitionsecuritypolicetechnologylegislation

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