Facial recognition trial: Over 170 criminals caught, including woman on run for 20 years

A high street under surveillance

A six-month trial of live facial recognition (LFR) in south London has resulted in the arrests of more than 170 criminals, including a woman who had been wanted for over two decades. The Metropolitan Police revealed that crime on Croydon's high street fell by 10.5% during the pilot, which ran from October 2025 to March 2026. In a significant finding, the force also reported a 21% reduction in violence against women and girls in the area. Among the most notable arrests was a 36-year-old woman wanted for failing to appear at court for an assault charge dating all the way back to 2004. Other individuals apprehended were wanted for serious offences including kidnap, rape, and serious sexual assault, the Met confirmed. One 41-year-old man was arrested for a rape that allegedly occurred in Croydon in November, while another man, 31, had been wanted for voyeurism for more than six months. The force stated that 61% of the offences linked to the arrests were committed in Croydon itself, highlighting the local impact.

How the 'powerful tool' worked

In a departure from the typical LFR deployments which use a dedicated van, the Croydon pilot saw cameras mounted directly onto infrastructure like lampposts. These static cameras were activated during 24 separate operations, leading to 173 arrests - the equivalent of one every 35 minutes of operation. The Met said each deployment used a "bespoke, intelligence-led watchlist" created no more than 24 hours in advance and deleted immediately after use. Lindsey Chiswick, the national and Met lead for LFR, described the technology as a "powerful tool when it's used carefully, openly and in the right places". She added: "This technology is helping us find people wanted by the courts, identify serious offenders quickly and focus our resources where they make the biggest impact." The force confirmed the static cameras would continue to be used in Croydon. During the pilot, over 470,000 people walked past the cameras, with only one false alert recorded, and that person was not arrested.

Legal challenges and court victories

The expansion of facial recognition technology has not been without controversy, sparking fierce legal battles. However, police forces were handed a significant boost in April 2026 when the High Court dismissed a legal challenge against the Metropolitan Police's use of LFR. The case, brought by campaigners including Silkie Carlo of Big Brother Watch, argued that the Met's policy gave officers too much discretion. The court, however, ruled that the policy contains sufficient safeguards against unchecked power. Met Commissioner Mark Rowley hailed the decision as a "significant and important victory for public safety". This ruling contrasts with a landmark 2020 Court of Appeal decision that found South Wales Police's use of the technology unlawful due to an inadequate legal framework, showing how the legal landscape is evolving.

'Human guinea pigs'

Despite the police's success and legal backing, civil liberties groups remain deeply concerned. Campaign group Big Brother Watch has been a vocal critic, with its head of research, Jake Hurfurt, claiming Croydon's shoppers had been "treated like human guinea pigs". He said the area was being monitored with "surveillance cameras that are rarely seen outside of authoritarian regimes". Mr Hurfurt added: "We all want the police to catch wanted criminals, but the Met's statistics today mask the many officer hours behind each arrest and huge resources that the force puts into LFR over more proportionate, traditional policing." He has called for the Met to end its use of the technology, arguing that "strict safeguards restricting live facial recognition to the most serious cases are long overdue" and noting that Parliament has never explicitly voted on a law to regulate its use.

Following the trial, the Met has confirmed it will continue to use the static cameras in Croydon as part of its regular deployments. The move cements the technology's role in London policing, even as the intense debate over the balance between security and personal privacy continues to grow across the UK.