Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley [MPS]

POLICE rolled out their controversial facial recognition technology across the West End yesterday, Thursday, despite opposition from civil liberties campaigners.

The Live Facial Recognition Technology was deployed in “crime hotspots” in Westminster, by the Metropolitan Police Service

The hotspots include Oxford Circus, Bond Street station, Piccadilly Circus, Marble Arch, Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Paddington station.

According to MPS deployment data, more than one million faces were scanned in Westminster alone in 2025, over 34 separate instances.

The mass scanning reportedly led to a total of 147 arrests.

The MPS said this week the technology was contributing to cutting the murder rate that is at a record low.

MPS Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “London’s record low homicide rate is the result of relentless work: arresting 1,000 more offenders each month, using innovative technology such as live facial recognition to solve more crime, and taking precise action against the most dangerous gangs, organised criminals, and predatory men who target women and children.”

Big Brother Watch’s crowdfunder campaign to “stop mass facial recognition surveillance”’ has already raised more than £80,000.

In 2023 the group’s Madeleine Stone told the Extra: “It’s the same thing as having your fingerprint taken by the police in order to walk down the street.”