Although there were many controversies around the use of facial recognition technology by UK forces, South Wales Police has started to use the technology once again.
Indeed, the controversial software, which was first used by the South Wales Police in 2017, is able to map faces in a crowd by comparing features with a watchlist of images. This software was ruled unlawful due to its consequences on human rights and civil liberties.
Yet, it was reported that South Wales Police has recently begun to use it again for five hours from midday on March 19 as part of an independent evaluation. With the facial recognition technology, it was able to make two arrests. The Police didn’t say how many future trials it was planning to do with the technology
Crime Commissioner Alun Michael has however added that there was close scrutiny of the operational decisions regarding the technology and that every step will be watched closely due to the ethical and social concerns about using facial recognition technology. He still made clear that it was concerning that there was no mandatory training for people using AI technologies, especially facial recognition.
