Face recognition has been trialled in the UK Ben Cawthra/LNP

A legal code of practice is needed before face recognition technology can be safely deployed by police forces in public places, says the UK’s data regulator.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it has serious concerns about the use of the technology as it relies on large amounts of personal information, in a blog post. Current laws, codes and practices “will not drive the ethical and legal approach that’s needed to truly manage the risk that this technology presents,” said information commissioner Elizabeth Denham.

She called for police forces to be compelled to show justification that face recognition is “strictly necessary, balanced and effective” in each case it is deployed.


Face recognition can map faces in a crowd by measuring the distance between facial features, then compare results with a “watch list” of images, which can include suspects, missing people and persons of interest.

South Wales Police and the Met Police have been trialling face recognition as a possible way to reduce crime, but the move has been divisive.

“The absence of a statutory code […] will increase the likelihood of legal failures and undermine public confidence in its use,” said Denham. “As a result, the key recommendation arising from the ICO’s investigation is to call for government to introduce a statutory and binding code of practice.”

Read more: UK launched passport photo checker it knew would fail with dark skin

The ICO called for more research to eliminate bias in the algorithms behind face recognition, particularly in relation to ethnicity. It has previously warned about potential technological bias, which can see more false positive matches from certain ethnic groups.

In September, a High Court ruled that the use of the technology by South Wales Police had not been unlawful after an activist argued that having his face scanned caused him “distress” and violated his privacy and data protection rights by processing an image taken of him in public.

Ed Bridges brought the challenge after claiming his face was scanned while doing Christmas shopping in 2017 and at a peaceful anti-arms protest in 2018. After the ruling, Bridges said he would appeal against the decision.

Denham said the judgment should not be seen as “blanket authorisation” for police forces to use face recognition systems in all circumstances because it was a case about a specific deployment.