Police could use street cameras to read our emotions, identifying criminals by their eyes, voice or even the way they walk.
Ministers launched a consultation yesterday on emerging technology that analyses ‘motions and emotions’ and could help catch criminals, prevent suicides and find missing people.
Under the draconian plans, which critics fear could usher in a ‘surveillance state in everything but name’, the Home Office is consulting on the use of technology which ‘analyses the body and its movements to infer information about the person, such as their emotions or actions’.
In the ten-week consultation, officials are asking the public whether police should be allowed to use such ‘inferential technology’.
In a suggested example, CCTV cameras at a suicide hotspot could send an alert to a police station when an individual ‘repeatedly paces the area’.
Other examples of biometric technologies under consideration for police use include voice and iris recognition.
Additionally, police could use CCTV cameras to perform ‘object recognition’ searches, looking for suspects by their clothing, bags, shoes or vehicle.
Keir Starmer is keen to ramp up the use of facial recognition cameras across the country in cities, towns and even villages and is seeking a new legal framework for the use of the technology. Limited facial recognition is already in use across several forces.
Under the consultation, the public is also being asked whether police should be able to access wider government databases, including passport and driver’s licence images. Civil servants are working with police to establish a national facial recognition system which will be capable of searching a range of databases including custody images and immigration records.
Crime and Policing Minister Sarah Jones said: ‘Confident, safe, and consistent use of facial recognition and similar technologies at significantly greater scale requires a more specific legal framework.
‘This will ensure law enforcement can properly harness the power of this technology whilst maintaining public confidence.’
The plans have raised further concerns about the erosion of civil liberties and follow Labour reforms such as digital ID cards and scrapping jury trials.
Former Shadow home secretary David Davis said the technology to read emotions was ‘a long way off’.
But he added that giving police access to government databases ‘would be the framework of a surveillance state in everything but name’.
Yesterday, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners separately raised concerns about retrospective facial recognition technology – where CCTV or doorbell camera footage from crime scenes is searched.
The APCC said: ‘These technologies are increasingly invasive and sophisticated. If they are to gain the trust and support of the public… they require robust and independent assessment prior to deployment, meaningful oversight and accountability to the public when things go wrong.’
