‘Double rapist’ among 100 alleged criminals caught in London’s Croydon borough by facial recognition cameras

The Met has received a fresh cash handout from the government to expand its use of live facial recognition as the police minister revealed the technology has already caught an alleged double rapist and around 100 other suspects in a London borough.

Chris Philp said the extra £547,000 given to Scotland Yard would help it catch more wanted criminals and keep the public safe and was part of a wider move to increase the use of technology in crime detection .

He said other changes on the horizon included the introduction of hand-knife detection technology, which can be used by police to identify knife-wielders from meters away, as well as the use of drones and artificial intelligence.

But he said the first step would be a further expansion of live facial recognition technology, which has already been successfully used by the Met to identify wanted suspects in locations ranging from the streets of Croydon and Camden to football matches in Premier League.

“In Croydon, in the last three or four months alone, over 100 people have been arrested who would otherwise not have been caught, including for knife offences,” the minister said during a round of media appearances, including interviews at Sky News and GB. Wednesday news.

“There was someone wanted for a double rape, the first of which took place in 2017, he was not caught for seven years until the man walked past the camera and was identified.

“That hasn’t gone to trial yet, but there’s someone wanted for a double rape that hasn’t been caught.”

He added: “These are 100 people, often dangerous criminals, including the wanted rapist, people who have committed knife offences, drug offences, firearms offences.

“They wouldn’t have been arrested otherwise and now they were. It will keep the public, you and me, and our families safer.”

Critics have argued that the technology can lead to “false positives” and lead to disproportionality.

But the Met insisted that instead it is highly accurate and, as an added safeguard, each deployment involves the use of a specially prepared watchlist of suspects, which is deleted immediately afterwards.

Mr Philp said he was also convinced the live facial recognition cameras were working properly and added: “All that has to happen is you and I are scanned and our photo is deleted immediately and automatically.

“That makes public safety much, much better. I think it strikes the right balance.”

He dismissed allegations that the facial recognition cameras were part of a “Big Brother” state.

The extra money for the Met’s mobile live facial recognition units is part of a £4m investment in the development of new policing technology set out today by the Home Office.

Mr Philp said he was also optimistic about the potential of knife detection devices in tackling street violence.

He said this week he was shown a US version of the technology, which allowed officers to “scan people from a distance carrying knives”.

The minister, who is MP for Croydon South, added: “Hopefully by the end of the year (the technology) can be deployed experimentally or in a trial mode and if it works it could really transform the ability of the police to take knives from the street.”

As well as the arrests in Croydon, other successes by the MET following the use of live facial recognition include the arrest of a man for allegedly breaching a sexual harm prevention order following a deployment in Clapham and the arrest of 11 suspects on camera. were used in Sutton and Woolwich. Among those detained were three men wanted for possessing an offensive weapon, one of whom was found with a knife.

Other arrests involved a man wanted for robbery, burglary and other offences, and a woman wanted for malicious communications.