London Riots: Only 1 Arrest Made as Result of Facial Recognition

A challenge to the security industry and to video surveillance installers was laid down by the Metropolitan Police yesterday after it was revealed that only one arrest made in connection with the London riots was a result of facial recognition technology.

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Almost 5,000 people have now been arrested in connection with the Met’s investigation into the August 2011 riots, codenamed Operation Withern.

Of those, around 4,000 were a direct result of evidence from CCTV equipment, marking it an incredible success story for the technology. But at a conference held at New Scotland Yard yesterday, DCI Mick Neville of the Central Forensic Image Team revealed that only one of these identifications was made using automatic facial recognition technology. The remainder were all made by officers who together made up one of the largest investigation teams ever assembled by the force, numbering 633 at its height.

Of the 4,962 arrests made, 3,145 people were charged, with an 81 percent conviction rate for offences carried out between 6-9 August 2011.

Many of the identifications were made by so-called “super-recognizers” — people who are exceptionally talented at recalling faces.

The problem with facial recognition technology, according to DCI Neville, is invariably linked to the position of cameras in high-up places. Evidently, this type of position is crucial in recording the overall scene of a location and in viewing any criminal activity. But officers suggested that adding a camera that was positioned at eye level — perhaps at the entry point of a location — would enable much clearer images of faces to be recorded, something that would improve the ability of facial recognition technology to be an effective tool.

DCI Neville believes that businesses will drive the use of facial recognition forward. Banks, for instance, could use the technology to identify people applying for bank loans, and they might be able to automatically confirm that a person is who they say they are by comparing the image with that of the DVLA database. Neville underlined the point by holding his hands up to frame his own face and repeatedly emphasised that “we need the face.”

Insurance

“Facial recognition needs face-level cameras,” Neville added. He then challenged delegates in the room — made up of installers, council CCTV control room managers, and other interested parties — to make this happen.

PC Pat Horgan, who was in charge of Operation Withern’s viewing teams, added to the challenge by calling for better CCTV images in general. The range in quality of the footage taken from private CCTV cameras “varied enormously,” and Horgan wants to see HD images make up a bigger proportion of the images used. He added that perhaps insurance companies could offer reductions in premiums to those businesses that have a good high-definition surveillance system.

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Related posts:

• England riots: Senior officers surprised no police killed
• 2011 riots detective: “We’re still arresting around 100 people per month”
• CCTV becoming ‘more acceptable’ after riot prosecutions