Surrey Police To Use Facial Recognition To Detect Suspects

Published on: 15 Aug, 2025
Updated on: 17 Aug, 2025

Surrey Police is one of seven forces who will deploy live facial recognition vehicles to locate suspects for crimes including sexual offences, violent assaults and homicides, the Home Office has announced.

Cameras in the vans will scan faces of those walking past and look for matches against a database of known suspects.

The biometric recognition technology has been used in London to make 580 arrests in 12 months, including 52 registered sex offenders who breached their conditions.

But campaign group Big Brother Watch said the “significant expansion of the surveillance state” was “alarming” and it is bringing a legal challenge against the Met Police’s use of the technology, alongside Shaun Thompson, who was wrongly identified.

Rebecca Vincent, interim director of Big Brother Watch, told the BBC: “Police have interpreted the absence of any legislative basis authorising the use of this intrusive technology as carte blanche to continue to roll it out unfettered, despite the fact that a crucial judicial review on the matter is pending.”

The technology was first used in England and Wales in 2017 during the Uefa Champions League final football match in Cardiff.

It has also been used in South Wales, London and Essex including at a Beyoncé concert to scan for paedophiles and terrorists.

Dame Diana Johnson MP

Home Office Minister Dame Diana Johnson rejected claims of a surveillance state, saying signposting would make it clear to the public when the technology was being used and information would only be kept for the period of deployment.

A spokesperson for Surrey police told The Dragon: “Together with Sussex Police we have been successful in our bid to host two live facial recognition vehicles, which will be used to keep our communities safe by finding the most serious offenders that pose a risk to our communities.

“We have been meticulously planning the roll out of this technology over the last few months and are aiming to overtly deploy two live facial recognition vans across Surrey and Sussex later this year.

“Whilst we are still in the beginning stages of planning, we are diligently working through the requirements to deploy these vans in the future, under the guiding principles of community safety, transparency and protecting people’s rights and privacy.

“We understand that this technology, already being used by other police forces with positive outcomes, can raise a number of questions. In the coming months, we will be talking to our communities before this technology is deployed.”

Other forces included in the initiative are Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Thames Valley and Hampshire.