Seven arrested and missing person found using police facial recognition at concerts

Seven people were arrested and a missing person was found using facial recognition technology at four gigs in south Wales this summer.

Live Facial Recognition technology was deployed at Taylor Swift, P!nk, Foo Fighters and Eric Prydz concerts in Cardiff.

During the operations, South Wales Police (SWP) says there were 11 “alerts” created, relating to people included in the force’s watchlists.

Watchlists are created before a deployment, and contain images of offenders wanted by the police and courts, as well as people who may pose a risk of harm to themselves or others.

Cameras target an area and the images created are compared against the watchlist.

When the technology finds a possible match, an alert is generated.

Assault

At the four summer gigs, these alerts resulted in seven arrests for offences including assault and robbery, and domestic violence.

Since Live Facial Recognition technology was relaunched in 2023, South Wales Police have scanned more than 2.5 million faces, with no false alerts created.

People not on a watchlist cannot be identified and the force deletes images with alerts immediately after using them, or within 24 hours.

Images and biometric data of those who don’t cause an alert are automatically and immediately deleted.

A Spokesperson for SWP said: “We also use Retrospective Facial Recognition tech, which compares still images of an unknown person’s face against a reference image database, in order to identify them. This has resulted in a number of convictions.

“New technology can transform policing and the wider criminal justice system, making it more efficient and effective both for officers and staff, and the public.”