{
  "id": "R-0149",
  "title": "Metropolitan Police live facial recognition: mass scanning and misidentification, London, 2016–2026",
  "short_title": "Met Police live facial recognition: mass scanning and misidentification",
  "jurisdiction": {
    "country": "United Kingdom",
    "region": "London",
    "level": "municipal"
  },
  "domain": "policing",
  "system_type": "face_recognition",
  "system_name": "Metropolitan Police Live Facial Recognition",
  "deployed_by": "Metropolitan Police",
  "year_start": 2016,
  "year_end": null,
  "harm_type": "mixed",
  "subject_count_estimate": 4200000,
  "subject_identification": "named_public_advocate",
  "oversight_trigger": "litigation",
  "oversight_date": "2026-01",
  "remedy_status": "ongoing",
  "documentation_status": "verified",
  "summary_50w": "The Metropolitan Police has deployed live facial recognition across London since 2016, scanning millions of faces a year. The force's own 2025 report found that 80% of people wrongly flagged were Black. After the system misidentified anti-knife-crime campaigner Shaun Thompson, he and Big Brother Watch brought a High Court challenge in January 2026, arguing the deployment lacks a legal basis and breaches privacy, expression and assembly rights.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "High Court to Hear Landmark Legal Challenge Against Police Live Facial Recognition",
      "url": "https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/press-releases/high-court-to-hear-landmark-legal-challenge-against-police-live-facial-recognition/",
      "publisher": "Big Brother Watch",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-14",
      "is_primary": false,
      "notes": "Originating report"
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "The Telegraph – High Court hears the challenge to police use of live facial recognition",
      "url": "https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/facialrec/the-telegraph-high-court-hears-the-challenge-to-police-use-of-live-facial-recognition/",
      "publisher": "Big Brother Watch",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "High Court told police live facial recognition needs limits - BBC News",
      "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07x21jlnndo",
      "publisher": "BBC News",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "GB News – Live facial recognition plans could turn London into “open prison”",
      "url": "https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/press-coverage/gb-news-live-facial-recognition-plans-could-turn-london-into-open-prison/",
      "publisher": "Big Brother Watch",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "BBC – The Met Police’s use of live facial recognition branded “chilling” by campaigners",
      "url": "https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/press-coverage/bbc-the-met-polices-use-of-live-facial-recognition-branded-chilling-by-campaigners/",
      "publisher": "Big Brother Watch",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "No arrests from false facial recognition alerts, Met Police says - BBC News",
      "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gp7j55zxvo",
      "publisher": "BBC News",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "Big Brother Watch responds to the Metropolitan Police’s 2025 live facial recognition report",
      "url": "https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/press-coverage/big-brother-watch-responds-to-the-metropolitan-polices-2025-live-facial-recognition-report/",
      "publisher": "Big Brother Watch",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "facial_recognition_misid",
    "mass_surveillance",
    "ongoing_litigation",
    "biometric_surveillance",
    "chilling_effect",
    "policing",
    "human_rights",
    "no_legal_basis"
  ],
  "extraction_metadata": {
    "first_collected": "2026-04-14T19:28:33.082782+00:00",
    "last_verified": "2026-10-10T15:46:29.971673+00:00",
    "verified_by": "human_review"
  }
}