PCD 1663 HO Grant- Live Facial Recognition

This paper seeks approval to accept grant funding from the Home Office to fund the Facial Recognition Static Cameras Infrastructure Pilot. This pilot will include the necessary legal, data protection, policy and ethical considerations. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to: 

1. Approve the request to accept a grant award of £800,000 from the Home Office (HO) to fund the Facial Recognition Static Cameras Infrastructure Pilot.  

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC 

1. Introduction and background.  

1. The regular use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology as part of business as usual supports the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to achieve a key priority for reform through precise community crime-fighting in order to reduce crime, rebuild trust and restore partnerships with communities. 

2. Issues for consideration. 

1. Currently, LFR technology is deployed from mobile units. However, the mobile units have limits in terms of access, the ability to sustain a footprint at high impact or harm crime hotspots and raise environmental considerations.  

2. With the offer of grant funding from the HO, the MPS would like to explore the option of piloting the deployment of LFR using static cameras on a limited basis by dismounting cameras from the mobile units a few hundred metres from specific crime hotspots. 

3. The pilot will assess the use of a) existing cameras already in place and owned by MPS, b) mobile cameras and/or c) using new cameras. This pilot would enable the location and identification of those sought by the courts and the police and the ability to focus resource in the right place. 

4. The MPS has provided reassurance that static LFR camera use will only be operational with sufficient police response to respond to alerts generated by LFR. The cameras will therefore not run 24/7.  

5.  The MPS recognises the need to engage London’s communities on the use of this technology. Although surveys continue to show that the majority of the public support the use of facial recognition for law enforcement purposes, this requires ongoing work to build trust and confidence within communities. The MPS will therefore engage community groups, the London Policing Ethics Panel (LPEP) and local businesses as part of this pilot. 

6.  The MPS recognises the need for legal, data protection, policy and ethical considerations. This will all form part of the pilot approach. A similar level of transparency as to the MPS’ approach for mobile-based LFR is planned. This pilot will include an evaluation of the impact of the technology on crime and social behaviour.  

7. In line with the New Met for London Plan, the MPS will prevent crime through a proactive and precise approach. It will use new technology to pursue the most harmful criminals in a precise way. Facial Recognition technology enables the MPS to be more precise in how it tackles crime and identifies wanted offenders. 

3. Financial Comments.  

1. HO grant funding of £800,000 to support the LFR Static Camera Infrastructure Pilot during 2024/25.  

4. Legal Comments. 

1. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all bids for grant funding. 

2. The legal powers applicable to the acceptance of this Grant will be under Schedule 3, Paragraph 7 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 which provides that,  

• The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime may do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office.  

That includes 

• Entering into contracts and other agreements (whether legally binding or not);  

• If approved, the terms of the grant offered by the Home Office will be formalised between the relevant parties overseen by MPS Commercial Services. 

3. The final Grant Agreement will be published pursuant to Articles 3, 4 & 5 of The Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) (Amendments) Order 2012. 

5. Equality Comments 

1.  An Equality Impact Assessment for the use of Live Facial Recognition has been completed and is available on the MPS website. This will be further developed as the pilot takes shape. 

6. GDPR and Data Privacy 

1. The MPS is subject to the requirements and conditions placed on it as a 'State' body to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018. Both legislative requirements place an obligation on the MPS to process personal data fairly and lawfully to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals. 

2. Under Article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Section 57 of the DPA 2018, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) become mandatory for organisations with technologies and processes that are likely to result in a high risk to the rights of the data subjects.  

3. The MPS assure that “the Information Assurance and Information Rights units within MPS will be consulted at all stages to ensure the contract meets its compliance requirements”.  

4. A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for the use of Live Facial Recognition has been completed. The DPIA will be reviewed as the pilot takes shape in lune with the wider facial recognition documents to consider the points which arise from dismounting of LFR cameras. 

7. Environmental Implications 

      7.1. Exploring a static means of deploying LFR cameras may contribute to the accelerated delivery of a cleaner, greener London as it may help to reduce the MPS’s current dependency on mobile units. 

8. Background/supporting papers. 

    8.1. MPS Paper – Grant Funding for Facial Recognition Pilot.