Facial recognition must not introduce gender or racial bias, police told

Facial recognition software should only be used by police if they can prove it will not introduce gender or racial bias to operations, an ethics panel has said. A report by the London policing ethics panel, which was set up to advise City Hall, concluded that while there were "important ethical issues to be addressed" in the use of the controversial technology, they did not justify not using it at all. Live facial recognition (LFR) technology is designed to check people passing a camera in a public place against images on police databases, which can include suspects, missing people or persons of interest to the police. The technology has been used to scan faces in large crowds in public places such as streets and shopping centres, and in football crowds and at events such as the Notting Hill carnival. The Metropolitan police have carried out 10 trials using the technology across London, the most recent being in Romford town centre in mid-February.