“If you’re an offender passing facial recognition cameras which are set up as they have been in Essex, the chances of being identified as being on a police watchlist are greater if you’re black. To me, that warrants further investigation.”
Essex, UK, police have put live facial recognition (LFR) cameras on hold after researchers found the system was correctly flagging black criminals more often compared to other ethnic groups. The pause was confirmed by the Information Commissioner’s Office, which oversees LFR use by at least 13 forces across England and Wales.
The technology, which can be mounted on vans or fixed locations, was intended to help police track wanted criminals. In January, the home secretary announced an expansion of the program, increasing LFR vans fivefold so every force could access them.
Essex commissioned University of Cambridge academics to test the system. They had 188 actors walk past active cameras in Chelmsford. About half of the people on a police watchlist were correctly identified, while false positives were rare. But the study found men were identified more reliably than women, and black participants were “statistically significantly more likely to correctly identify” than people from other ethnic groups.
Dr Matt Bland, a criminologist involved in the study, told the Guardian and Liberty Investigates: “If you’re an offender passing facial recognition cameras which are set up as they have been in Essex, the chances of being identified as being on a police watchlist are greater if you’re black. To me, that warrants further investigation.”
Yeah it is working and so, they shut it off. And you morons can’t see they want criminals on the streets to cause problems!
😂