Greater Manchester Police has been forced to stop a controversial surveillance programme which monitored every visitor to the Trafford Centre for SIX MONTHS.

The force used Automatic Facial Recognition (AFR) technology to scan shoppers for wanted criminals on a Greater Manchester 'watchlist' and missing people.

But the pilot, thought to be the largest of its kind ever carried out in the UK, was halted after Tony Porter, the Surveillance Camera Commissioner, raised a number of concerns.

Mr Porter, the government's independent regulator, told the M.E.N the scheme had not been signed off by senior officers at the 'strategic command' level, for example an Assistant Chief Constable.

In response, GMP stressed that a Superintendent had overseen the scheme from the start.

Mr Porter also raised concerns about whether GMP had involved sufficient legal oversight from the outset.

It is understood that while lawyers were involved from the beginning, a decision was made following a meeting involving GMP bosses, lawyers and Mr Porter in September to suspend the pilot.

An estimated 30m people visit the Trafford Centre every year, and Mr Porter was most concerned by the "proportionality" of the trial.

"Compared to the size and scale of the processing of all people passing a camera, the group they might hope to identify was miniscule," he added in a post on a government blog.

It is understood GMP first got involved with the programme in April, after being invited to take part by security bosses at the Trafford Centre.

It was paused last month after the force took legal advice.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

Mr Porter told the M.E.N: "Greater Manchester Police were very helpful and open.

"What I would say is that in some countries we wouldn't be able to rely on a police service to listen and accept [these concerns].

"I understand their lawyers felt it was necessary to place [the scheme] on hold until these issues were properly addressed.

"Yes there are lessons to be learned in terms of ensuring senior officers have visibility of such proposals. It is highly invasive surveillance and it should be understood at the strategic command level.

"There needs to be a full and proper consideration of the legal position so that it is lawful and ethical."

Automatic facial recognition technology has been trialled before at individual events including Notting Hill Carnival in London and the Champions League in Cardiff.

It has been strongly criticised by civil liberties groups who say it is a disproportionate invasion of privacy and doesn't work effectively.

Freedom of Information requests have found the technology often produces more 'false positives' than correct matches.

Silkie Carlo, director of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said: "The lawless growth of facial recognition surveillance in this country is chilling.

"These identity checkpoints are being quietly rolled out in public places with almost no public awareness, in complete absence of any public debate or even a legal basis."

A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: “In April this year, Greater Manchester Police began to explore the use of automatic facial recognition with our partners at the Trafford Centre."

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“This pilot which lasted for six months involved a limited number of pictures and at no time were any names or personal details passed to colleagues at the Trafford Centre.

“The system is automated and uses technology to scan faces.

“During the pilot one positive identification was made. This related to a man wanted on recall to prison.

“We are aware however of ongoing court cases and the current debate over the proportionality of using this software.

"Consequently, we met with our partners in September, which included the Surveillance Camera Commissioner, and decided at this time we would suspend the limited pilot.

"It should be noted that both ourselves and the Trafford Centre have been very open with the Surveillance Camera Commissioner, who as referenced in his recent public blog, has been complimentary about our transparent approach to considering this as an option.

"This is a really difficult balance to reach, as can be seen from the debate on social media today where there is considerable support for the use of such technology.

"We believe that the public expect us to explore new technology as best as we can to protect people and to investigate and detect crime.

"There is always a balance to be reached, however, one which properly respects privacy, while taking advantage of new capabilities and this is why we are still reviewing our position on this and will continue to engage with the independent Surveillance Camera Commissioner."

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A spokesperson for Intu which runs the Trafford Centre said: "The safety and security of our staff and visitors is our number one priority and we work in close partnership with the police to ensure our centres remain safe and enjoyable places to visit.

"Automatic facial recognition technology (AFR) is just one of the measures we’ve been trialling at intu Trafford centre to support this alongside existing CCTV cameras and our own highly trained security officers.

"Throughout the process of exploring and trialling AFR, we have been in discussions with the police, regulators, and the Surveillance Camera Commissioner.

"We did this to understand and seek to make sure we adhered to the relevant legal requirements and followed best practice.

"The trial ran for around six months and has now ended."