Live facial recognition technology has been used by the Met Police at a Premier League football match for the first time leading to three arrests, the Standard can reveal.
The faces of thousands of fans on their way to watch Arsenal v Tottenham last month were scanned in a bid to catch criminals and supporters barred from attending games because of their previous behaviour.
Three people were arrested and charged after being caught on camera by surveillance vans.
The images of tens of thousands of offenders, alleged violent criminals and, for the first time, those with football banning orders, had been put into a “watchlist” database.
Policing minister Chris Philp defended the use of the controversial technology, which has been described by privacy campaigners as Orwellian. He said it would help officers “quickly and accurately identify” those wanted for serious crimes and its use helps “free up police time and resources”.
Camera vans were placed at Highbury and Islington station to catch fans heading to the north London derby on September 24. The three people arrested included George Dean, 40, from Marylebone, who was charged with being in breach of a football banning order. He has been bailed to appear before magistrates on November 23.
Adrian Greene, 43, was arrested for being wanted on recall to prison for sexual offences. Stephanie Robins, 40, from Hackney, was also among those detained. She admitted using threatening and abusive words and being in breach of a court order.
A police spokesman said the force only deployed live facial recognition “at locations where intelligence suggested officers were most likely to locate offenders”. He added: “This was the first time the watchlist included those who were wanted for breaching football banning orders. The watchlist also included those wanted for carrying weapons, robbery or other violent offences against women and girls.”
The Met previously used the technology during the Coronation where three wanted offenders were identified among the crowds who had gathered in central London, Home Office sources said. It has also been rolled out during targeted operations in the West End.
The technology was also trialled at a Championship match between Cardiff City and Swansea City in 2020. Some fans donned masks, sunglasses and hoods, or wrapped scarves around their faces to disguise their appearance.
It had not previously been used at Premier League games to single out those barred from matches, with clubs having had to rely on stewards to spot offenders before they enter grounds.
It means bans have been difficult to enforce, and some supporters have, inevitably, been able to attend matches while forbidden to do so because of their previous conduct.
Cameras scan crowds and when the system flags a match it is checked and the photograph then sent to officers policing the game who can make an arrest. The system has previously triggered one false alert for every 6,000 people captured by cameras.
However, the past six uses during operations in London have not produced any errors, the Met said. Police plan to use it to identify London’s most prolific shoplifters by comparing CCTV from stores to its database. The Home Office has also announced plans to build a mass facial recognition database from passport photos.
Met chief inspector Simon Brooker last month told football supporters groups that well-behaved fans had nothing to fear from the technology.
But Sue Watson, director of West Ham United Supporters’ Trust, said the club had concerns about its use because it appeared football crowds were being “singled out unfairly”. She added that the trust had “raised several concerns and sought as many assurances as possible” from the Met.
Madeleine Stone, of Big Brother Watch, said: “Police targeting football fans with this new and dangerous mass surveillance tool treats them like suspects, erodes public freedoms and wastes public money. Live facial recognition is not an efficient crime-fighting tool.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Government is committed to making sure the police have the tools and technology they need to... keep people safe.”
