Police forces must make sure there is clear senior oversight for staff using Facial Recognition Technology: ICO

The report, ‘Facial recognition in law enforcement’ outlines the ICO’s support for the “responsible use” of FRT and other biometric technologies by law enforcement to prevent and detect crime.

Audits carried out by the regulator showed a mixed picture of data protection compliance across a sample of police forces in England and Wales.

The ICO said: “Expected standards were met in some areas, but compliance remains inconsistent overall. We have worked closely with forces and policing oversight bodies to ensure steps are being taken to give the public confidence in the governance and oversight of FRT.”

The report identified the following areas where improvement is needed: 

• making sure there is clear senior oversight, accountability and training for staff using facial recognition technology; 
• making sure staff understand their roles and responsibilities when using facial recognition technology; 
• keeping clear records of what personal information is being used, where it comes from, how it is used and who it is shared with; 
• making sure images used for retrospective facial recognition (RFR) are obtained from appropriate sources and not kept for longer than necessary; and 
• checking that facial recognition systems are accurate and taking steps to reduce the risk of unfairness or bias. 

The report concluded that strong data protection governance is “essential to public trust”, noting that embedding clear safeguards in how FRT is used helps to reassure people and increase confidence that the technology is being used fairly and lawfully.

Across the five audited forces, the regulator made 107 recommendations covering both compliance and best practice, all of which were accepted or partially accepted.

The ICO said: “The recommendations in our audit reports are intended to guide all police forces using FRT, not just those we audited. For England and Wales, we are working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), and its FRT leads to drive consistent improvement across all forces, and we will also share the findings with Police Scotland and Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).”

Lottie Winson