Policing Minister Urges Forces to Double Facial Recognition Searches

The minister wrote to police chiefs across England and Wales, urging them to routinely use the technology to match suspects against databases.

Policing Minister Chris Philp hosts a roundtable in Downing Street, London, on Oct. 23, 2023. Aaron Chown/PA

Police forces in England and Wales have been urged to double the number of facial recognition searches in a government drive for using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

In a letter to police chiefs, policing minister Chris Philp encouraged police forces to routinely check suspects’ images against the Police National Database (PND) using the retrospective facial recognition technology.