Police scan faces amid safety concerns at carnival

This marks the first official use of facial recognition at the carnival, reflecting a broader trend of integrating biometric systems into policing large events.

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The Metropolitan Police will deploy live facial recognition (LFR) around this year’s Notting Hill Carnival, the first official use at Europe’s largest street festival, which draws roughly 2 million people during the August bank holiday.

Mobile LFR cameras will scan crowds within a three-mile radius to identify wanted individuals, including knife offenders, rapists, and robbers. The operation is supported by an additional £1 million in security funding and approximately 7,000 officers on duty each day.

Past trials in 2016 and 2017 flagged 102 innocent people, prompting civil liberties backlash and trial abandonment.

The Met acknowledges past issues but asserts that accuracy has improved; the National Physical Laboratory saw no statistically significant racial or gender bias. Still, false positives continue to occur, and privacy advocates remain wary.

The deployment reflects the UK’s wider adoption of biometric surveillance technologies. While officials argue LFR enhances public safety and helps preempt mass casualty events, critics warn it may deepen mistrust among minority communities unless transparency, oversight, and accuracy are further guaranteed. This move reignites debate on balancing crowd security and civil liberties in modern policing.

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