5 days ago
Glasgow councillors' fears over facial recognition tech
It comes as police forces in England and Wales, who have been using facial recognition technology (FRT) since 2015, expanded its use with some police forces using live facial recognition, which involves scanning public spaces and crowds in real time to match faces against a database of images.
FRT has been used in various community contexts, including protests, sporting events, concerns as well as busy shopping streets.
During Thursday's full council meeting, a motion was presented to councillors over the legal challenges regarding the use of FRT following the result of the Ed Bridges' case where the Court of Appeal said the South Wales Police's use of live facial recognition (LFR) violated privacy rights and broke data protection and equality laws.
In 2017, Police Scotland said its initial ambition was to introduce LFR in 2026 as part of their 10-year strategy 'Policing 2026' but decided in 2020 not to advance this after a report by the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing stated that there was 'no justifiable basis for Police Scotland to invest in the technology'.
Councillors have been made aware that while the Scottish Police Authority is not consulting on the introduction of LFR it is debating its potential introduction on whether or not the work should be taken forward.
Following a Freedom of Information request in March 2025, it has been confirmed that Police Scotland is considering enhancing CCTV resources with the introduction of Briefcam's object matching software, which also has capabilities to match faces live.
Police Scotland has stated they will not use this element of the technology if updated.
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Speaking about her motion, Bailie Martha Wardrop said: 'Police Facial Recognition technology is being discussed by residents who are concerned about the impact it will have on their civil liberties and democratic freedoms.
'It has to be acknowledged that this technology challenges democratic principles and carries out mass identity checks on everyone in real time regardless of any suspicion on them.
'This is described as the equivalent of police stopping every passerby to check DNA or fingerprints. It gives police extraordinary power to identify and track people without knowledge or consent.
'This can bring about an erosion of the fundamental right to be presumed innocent. The use of this technology completely changes policing. Instead of investigating after a reasonable cause to do so, this technology treats everyone as a potential suspect undermining privacy and civic freedoms.
'There is also concern about the technology being built on flawed discriminatory data and this results in disproportionately targeting of black, marginalised groups, migrants and low-income communities.
'Rather than making our communities safer, evidence suggests that this technology will reinforce racism and criminalise poverty.'
Glasgow City Council has now vowed to work with the police to ensure that use of the technology is fit for purpose, non-discriminatory and respects the rights of Glasgow citizens.
Council leader Susan Aitken will now write to the Chair of the Scottish Police Authority to indicate their view and these factors be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to progress with trials or implementation of live FRT.
