Live facial recognition trial begins at selected TfL stations
British Transport Police has begun trialling live facial recognition technology at selected Transport for London stations as part of a wider effort to tackle serious crime and improve safety on the capital’s transport network.
The trial is focused on people wanted in connection with high-harm offences, including robbery, knife crime, and sexual assaults. BTP says the technology will only generate an alert when a scanned face matches someone on an authorised police watchlist.
For passengers who are not on that watchlist, their images will not be retained. BTP says non-matches are automatically deleted immediately, meaning the system is designed to discard those images as people continue their journeys.
The stations included in the trial will be selected using police intelligence and crime data, with the aim of deploying the technology in locations where it could have the greatest impact.
The move also forms part of TfL’s work to address violence against women and girls on public transport. Research published by TfL found that concerns about sexual harassment and sexual offences can influence how women and girls use the network.
Among 150 girls aged between 13 and 16 surveyed, 77 percent said they had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour during a journey involving public transport in the previous year. A further 91 per cent said they had witnessed someone else experience such behaviour.
The research also found that 40 per cent of 1,006 respondents had decided against making a public transport journey because they felt unsafe.
TfL said women and girls had identified the use of facial recognition to help identify offenders and alert police as one measure that could make them feel safer.
The trial is therefore being presented as one part of a broader approach rather than a standalone response. TfL and police are also using targeted enforcement, staff training, reporting improvements, bystander intervention and behaviour-change campaigns to address harassment and violence across the network.
The trial will allow BTP and TfL to assess whether live facial recognition can provide another practical policing tool while maintaining safeguards around people who are not sought by police.
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