Welsh police forces launch first facial recognition mobile app

They will become the first in the UK to use technology to identify individuals in near real time through a facial recognition app.

It will enable officers to confirm the identity of someone who is missing, at risk or wanted in circumstances when they are unable to provide details, refuse to give details or provide false details.

The app can also be used on someone who has passed away or are unconscious – helping officers to identify them promptly so their family can be reached with care and compassion.

Known as Operator Initiated Facial Recognition (OIFR), it has already been tested by 70 officers across South Wales who were able to use it in a range of scenarios where people either refused to identify themselves or provided false details.

In cases where someone is wanted by police for a criminal offence, it secures their quick arrest and detention. Cases of mistaken identity are easily resolved and without the necessity to visit a police station or custody suite.

The forces said photographs taken using the app are never retained and in private places such as houses, schools, medical facilities and places of worship the app will only be used in situations relating to a risk of significant harm.

T/Assistant Chief Constable Trudi Meyrick of South Wales Police said: “Police officers have always been able to spot someone who they think is missing or wanted and stop them in the street. What this technology does is enhance their ability to accurately confirm a person’s identity, helping to ensure a fair and transparent resolution.

“This mobile phone app means that with the taking of a single photograph which is compared to the police database, officers can easily and quickly answer the question of ‘Are you really the person we are looking for?’. When dealing with a person of interest during their patrols in our communities, officers will be able to access instant information allowing them to identify whether the person stopped is, or isn’t, the person they need to speak to, without having to return to a police station.

“This technology doesn’t replace traditional means of identifying people and our police officers will only be using it in instances where it is both necessary and proportionate to do so, with the aim of keeping that particular individual, or the wider public, safe.”

Facial recognition is just one way in which technological advancements are being used across South Wales and Gwent forces with the aim of making the work of police officers easier and faster so that they can have more time to work at keeping communities safe.

T/Assistant Chief Constable Nick McLain of Gwent Police said: “Embracing technology and innovation is an integral part of effective policing and public safety. I am proud that Gwent and South Wales Police are jointly leading the way in this field with the introduction of the first facial recognition app.

“The use of this technology always involves human decision-making and oversight, ensuring that it is used lawfully, ethically, and in the public interest. We have a robust scrutiny process in place to ensure accountability and testing found no evidence of racial, age or gender bias.

“By implementing this app, we are preventing harm, helping those in need and keeping our communities safe.”

During the pilot, which ran from December 2021 to March 2022, 39 photographs obtained were of male subjects and three were obtained of females. There were no uses recorded against an unknown gender.

Of the 42 uses of the app with 35 individual subjects photographed, the following reasons were recorded:

• Refused to provide details 7
• Suspected false details 18
• Unable to provide details 17

The following grounds were recorded:

• Suspected of an offence 30
• Suspected missing person 9
• Deceased 2
• Suspected to suffer harm 1

The feedback from officers involved in the trial is that the app is user friendly and a benefit to operational policing. There have been occasions when the use of the app has led to vehicles being seized from disqualified drivers who have lied about their identity.

It has also been used on shoplifters who have lied to try to avoid arrest to gain an out of court disposal. The app has been used twice with deceased persons, one of which resulted in a match which allowed officers to speed up the formal identification process following a fatal RTC. In these circumstances it could prevent a family learning of a death of a loved one via social media or a third party, the forces said.

The app has allowed the safe return of a 15-year-old missing person from another part of the UK who it identified after he refused to give his details. He was returned to a place of safety after being identified using the app. Officers in South Wales were then able to contact the missing person’s home force to inform them of his whereabouts.

The OIFR app compares a photograph of a person’s face taken on a mobile phone with facial images to assist an officer to identify a subject.

An image will be captured on an officer’s mobile phone and compared against a watchlist(s) selected by the officer. The watchlist available to the officer includes custody images held by South Wales Police and Gwent Police and missing persons from the South Wales Police area.

After a search is made, the technology reorders the chosen watchlist(s) from the most to least likely possible match. The six most likely possible matches are returned to the officer’s mobile phone. The officer will review the top six possible matches and decide whether a match has been made. If a match has been made it will then be possible to carry out further checks for the subject against police systems.

“We will always explain to the person when we use the OIFR app and inform them how they can contact us to ask further questions,” the forces said.

“Persons who are not included on a watchlist cannot be identified. The image, captured on the mobile device, and biometric data are automatically and immediately deleted after a search is carried out.”

Both forces say the OIFR app will not be used to replace traditional means of identification, such as having a conversation with the individual who gives their name or provides identification documents which are checked against police systems to identify a subject.

Wherever possible, the OIFR app will only be used after an interaction has occurred between the officer and the subject.

The OIFR app does not replace the existing Retrospective Facial Recognition (RFR) process but instead is used as an ‘on-street’ intelligence tool to assist the officers in identifying an unknown person.

Use of the OIFR App will only occur when the identity of a subject is not known and when there are reasonable grounds for its use.