Poll Finds 69% of Britons Want Public Input on Police Use of Live Facial Recognition

More than three in five Britons fear being wrongly implicated by facial recognition technology, according to a survey conducted by Opinium and commissioned by Face Int. The Opinium survey polled 2,000 British adults on their views of live facial recognition technology.

It found that 69 percent of the British public believe they should have a say on how live facial recognition is rolled out across the country.

Sixty-one percent of respondents fear errors could lead to them being wrongly implicated in incidents. The same proportion, 57 percent, harbour concerns about how images of their face would be stored. Fifty-seven percent of respondents believe live facial recognition represents a step towards a surveillance state.

Fifty-four percent reported feeling that live facial recognition gives them an eerie sense that “Big Brother” is constantly watching over them. Despite those worries, 54 percent agreed that those who have not committed a crime should not worry about police forces using the technology.

GB News reported that the polling revealed Britons remain conflicted even as authorities expand use of the system.

Currently 13 police forces across England and Wales either use or are trialling live facial recognition. The Government announced 40 new police vans equipped with facial recognition cameras would be deployed in town centres to help tackle rising anti-social behaviour on the high street.

Crime and Policing Minister Sarah Jones described the technology as 'the biggest breakthrough for catching criminals since DNA matching'.

Face Int CEO Tony Kounnis said: “These findings show that public concern around facial recognition is not abstract or ideological. That matters for organisations using the technology. It means the conversation cannot stop at whether the technology works.

There needs to be clear justification for its use, transparency around how it is deployed, and strong safeguards in place to protect individuals and their data.