For the first time in Ealing, police have used live facial recognition technology in a number of locations around Ealing Broadway.
The move on Wednesday (3 April 2024) comes after Chief Superintendent Sean Wilson, Borough Commander for the West Area revealed to Ealing Business Club last month that live facial technology will be introduced in the borough.
He said on 14 March 2024: “We now are starting to experiment with live facial recognition and we’ll be doing an all party policy briefing. That is controversial. But if we’re to keep a step ahead, we must start using that technology.”
In a statement on X (previously known as Twitter), Ealing Police said: “This technology helps keep Londoners safe, and will be used to find people who threaten or cause harm, those who are wanted, or have outstanding arrest warrants issued by the court.”
In a response, one resident posted: “You need to publish the results of these operations to justify what you are doing. If it doesn’t result in significant arrests then it becomes mass surveillance for its own sake which the public will not support.”
