The Premier League is funding a £3.42 million trial of live facial recognition technology at top-flight football matches in London as part of a wider push to expand the use of policing technology across English football.
Documents published by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) show that the Premier League is providing approximately £3.42 million through Cheshire Constabulary to support the Metropolitan Police’s deployment of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology on Premier League matchdays.
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The funding was approved under Section 93 of the Police Act 1996, which allows police authorities to accept donations and sponsorship. However, the legislation does not itself provide the legal basis for facial recognition. Each deployment must separately satisfy Metropolitan Police requirements relating to legality, necessity and proportionality.
How the technology will be used
The Metropolitan Police says LFR cameras will monitor defined areas around match venues and compare the faces of people passing through them against a police watchlist.
The watchlists can include individuals wanted for serious offences, as well as people subject to football banning orders. The stated objective is to identify individuals considered a potential risk before they enter stadiums.
MOPAC said the project is intended to assess whether facial recognition can make football policing safer and more efficient, including helping officers identify people wanted…
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Read Full Article by Anthony Nlebem at businessday.ng
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