Live facial recognition to be used by police to ‘fight crime and protect’ at British Grand Prix this weekend

Northamptonshire Police are deploying state-of-the-art technology this weekend (July 8 and 9) to provide an extra layer of security at the 2023 Formula 1 Aramco British Grand Prix.

With more than 450,000 people expected to descend on the south of the county for the UK’s largest sporting event, ensuring the safety of everyone visiting Silverstone is of “paramount importance” to the force.

In addition to the specialist teams, including armed officers, search teams, disruption officers and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) units, Live Facial Recognition (LFR) will also be in operation at the circuit on Saturday (July 8) and Sunday (July 9).

This is the first time LFR has been deployed outside of the South Wales and Metropolitan Police areas, and will be used by the county force for the sole purpose of fighting crime and protecting people in attendance.

The technology works by scanning faces with a camera to match biometrics against those held on a watchlist – which is generated by the police and focuses on those who pose the greatest risk of danger to the wider public.

The watchlist includes suspects who are wanted for offences or have an outstanding warrant for an arrest issued by the courts, those who pose a risk of harm to themselves or others, and vulnerable missing people.

Locations where LFR is in operation will be clearly marked by signage at the circuit.

Any images that trigger alerts are deleted immediately after use or within 24 hours, while the images and biometric data of people who do not trigger an alert will automatically be deleted.

Detective Superintendent Richard Tompkins, Northamptonshire Police’s event commander who will be leading the operation, said: “We have many years of experience leading the policing operation at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix however, with more than 450,000 expected to attend this year’s prestigious motor racing event, we simply cannot afford to become complacent.

“Each year brings its own challenges and to manage any incident, we have a robust policing plan in place – which will see a large police presence in and around the circuit and wider venue as part of a multi-layered security operation.

“Our priority will always be to protect the public while relentlessly pursuing those people who are determined to cause harm in our communities, and it is therefore important we embrace and use new technology to help us achieve this.”

However, following the police announcing their plans to use live facial recognition, privacy campaigning organisation Big Brother Watch has responded.

Madeleine Stone, the group’s senior advocacy officer, said: “Live facial recognition is a dystopian mass surveillance tool that turns innocent members of the public into walking ID cards.

“Northamptonshire Police are trampling over the public's rights and liberties by using this Orwellian technology.

"Deploying this biometric surveillance to track protesters is a dangerously authoritarian step that aligns the UK with the likes of Russia and China. Only this week, Putin's regime was found to have violated human rights law for using facial recognition surveillance to identify a protester.

“Live facial recognition surveillance has no place in Britain. Northamptonshire Police must urgently drop their plans to use this rights-abusive technology."