No Clear Legal Basis for Police Expansion of Live Facial Recognition, Peers Say

The Justice and Home Affairs Committee called for a legal framework on LFR deployment, but the government insists there’s already ’sound legal basis’ for it.

A mobile police facial recognition facility outside a shopping centre in London on Feb. 11, 2020. Kelvin Chan/AP Photo

There is no clear legal basis for the police to expand their use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology, a select committee of peers said.

Baroness Hamwee, chair of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, wrote to Home Secretary James Cleverly on Jan. 26, calling for a legislative framework on LFR deployment.