UK: One in five arrested using facial recognition cameras are registered sex offenders
Greater Manchester Police say the use of live facial recognition (LFR) cameras has led to dozens of arrests in just weeks, including a significant number of registered sex offenders, with one in five arrests involving people on the sex offender register since the technology was deployed 23 times from October 2025.
Mounted on police vans, the cameras scan faces in public spaces and instantly compare biometric “faceprints” against watchlists of wanted individuals, alerting officers to potential matches. GMP has used the technology in the city centre, at Manchester Airport, and for the first time at a football match outside Old Trafford, contributing to 40 arrests so far, 30 of which have resulted in charges. The Home Office has backed the expansion of LFR nationwide, with the Home Secretary announcing plans to increase the number of camera vans from 10 to 50 across England and Wales, arguing the technology helps combat crime and restore public confidence. However, the rollout has drawn criticism from privacy and civil-liberties campaigners, who argue that scanning the faces of large numbers of people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing raises serious concerns about mass surveillance, proportionality, and the erosion of the right to privacy, particularly given the limited transparency and legal safeguards governing the technology’s use.
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When everything and every place is illegal for a certain categories of people then facial recognition cameras will always be catching them for illegal violations.. this should be a very very concerning article for America because you know its coming.. With the amount of laws, restrictions, penalty’s, and ordinances that change on a daily basis is there one person on the registry that wouldn’t be returned to prison in a years time for some technical violation caught on facial recognition cameras? The Third Reich would be so jealous..
Read on the Patriots Act signed by Bush. The amount of surveillance on Americans is astounding.
But those who harmed this country leading to the Patriot Act are laughing their as**s off at the internal destruction this country is going through including the mass surveillance ongoing.
So no new crime by the 1 registrant they mention, well, other than the crime of “breaking his sexual harm prevention order”. Like what, walking by the park or using the sidewalk to get from one side to the other? I googled this park. It is barley a park. Flanked by a building with a Popeyes, Mcdonalds, pizza and more. I would like to know what the breach of notification requirements was. These people who write this stuff have absolutely no interest in getting facts. Here nor much on the other people.
Note the only name they printed was that of the PFR, everyone else was “a guy”.
All of a sudden, it no longer bothers me that I’m not permitted to enter the UK.
These are just the vans. London has so much more surveillance already in place. It is of their own doing it has come to this point in the UK.
I hate to say this, but things are going to get worse, and not just for registrants. But especially for us if something doesn’t change. The old saying, “Two steps forward, three steps back”. Some give up but I know many of us are staying in the fight until the bitter end, or until victory is won, no matter how daunting it is.
Remember the story of David and Goliath? Regardless of if you believe the story, it is an inspiration and testament of resilience to fight the giants in our lives. Sometimes the giants fall.
The UK has done this to themselves and the US needs to stop it while they still can. This won’t stop at just PFRs, but everyone for one thing or another.
The overwatch is creepy in a few ways. Are the 1 in 5 first time offenders or repeat offenders?
It appears they were people who were wanted for something already or a PFR being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A sex crime was not noted and they would not have missed that. The headline of course…..typical click bait.
@MP
It’s that time when a registered person is arrested for “Walking while registered”. It is getting out of hand with all this nonsense, pushing the limits to the law and such. I think they have already exceeded breaking the constitution, with us barely having any rights in their view.
Just when we think it cannot get any worse, we get more bad news.
Out of the 40 arrested, 30 were charged. So that is terrifying and horribly inefficient that 10 innocent people would have to go through being booked and all that comes with it. The more this gets rolled out the more human rights abuses and wrongful arrests we will see.