The London Metropolitan Police have announced that it intends to begin using Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology in various parts of the UK's capital city.

The police explained that the technology will be "intelligence-led and deployed to specific locations in London," used for five to six hours at a time, with bespoke lists drawn up of "wanted individuals." As the BBC reports, the police claim the technology is able to identify 70 percent of wanted suspects while only generating false alerts once per 1,000 people detected by the system.

The cameras will be rolled out within a month and clearly signposted. Police officers are going to hand out leaflets about the facial recognition technology and consult with local communities. The technology will not be linked to CCTV, body worn video, or ANPR (automatic number-plate recognition) systems already used in the UK.

In a statement, Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said, "We all want to live and work in a city which is safe: the public rightly expect us to use widely available technology to stop criminals ... Equally I have to be sure that we have the right safeguards and transparency in place to ensure that we protect people's privacy and human rights. I believe our careful and considered deployment of live facial recognition strikes that balance."

The controversy over facial recognition in the UK is wide-ranging. Last year, concerns over its accuracy were highlighted. The police also worked with a private developer to set up facial recognition technology seemingly without the knowledge of those living and working there. As the BBC reported, the police later acknowledged it had shared people's pictures with the managers of the estate, after previously denying any alliance with them.

Concerns about facial recognition are not unique to the United Kingdom. In the US three cities - San Francisco, Oakland, California, and Somerville, Massachusetts - have banned the technology over concerns that it will be misused.

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