Facial recognition cameras that scan for wanted criminals are being installed permanently on UK high streets for the first time, The Times can reveal.
The Metropolitan Police will permanently put up live facial recognition (LFR) cameras in Croydon, south London, as part of a pilot project that may see the scheme extended across the capital.
The cameras, set to go live in June or July, will monitor the faces of people on the high street and match their image to a database of alleged criminals, including rapists, burglars and robbers.
It marks the progression of a successful programme the force has been running for the past two years, which involved deploying vans equipped with LFR cameras and resulted in hundreds of arrests.
Vans with facial recognition technology have been deployed over the past two years as part of a pilot scheme
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
However, privacy campaigners
