'Urgent clarity' sought over racial bias in UK police facial recognition technology

A facial recognition system deployed by the Metropolitan police at Oxford Circus on 13 May in London. A facial recognition system deployed by the Metropolitan police at Oxford Circus on 13 May in London. 'Urgent clarity' sought over racial bias in UK police facial recognition technology The UK's data protection watchdog has asked the Home Office for "urgent clarity" over racial bias in police facial recognition technology before considering its next steps. The Home Office has admitted that the technology was "more likely to incorrectly include some demographic groups in its search results", after testing by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) of its application within the police national database. The report revealed that the technology, which is intended to be used to catch serious offenders, is more likely to incorrectly match black and Asian people than their white counterparts.