Bedfordshire Police hail facial recognition technology after arrests at Bedford River Festival

Use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology by police at a major festival has been hailed a success.

Bedfordshire Police used LFR at the biennial Bedford River Festival at the weekend. The event attracts around 250,000 people over the two days.

It was the first time the state-of-the-art cameras has been used in Bedfordshire.

Police said the deployment would help to "locate the county's most wanted offenders and keep the public safe".

But the technology has been criticised by human rights organisation Liberty as a blunt tool which can discriminate against people of colour.

The force said that use of LFR had led to two arrests for people wanted on court warrants.

One of the individuals was identified for an additional offence when stopped.

It also picked up four individuals who had court-imposed conditions or notification requirements against them.

Overall 10 people were arrested over the event.

Det Supt Aman Dhaliwal, who leads the LFR team within Bedfordshire Police, said: “We are really pleased with the results from the live facial recognition deployment and the entire force at the River Festival.

“The arrest figure from across the weekend shows that the messaging in the lead-up to the event, and the policing during it, were effective in deterring criminal activity, which LFR certainly played a big part in achieving.

“It is a tactic that prevents and detects crime that we will certainly be considering for future operations and events in the county.”

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