By Chris Green
Ministers are under mounting pressure to clear the way for Scottish police to start using live facial recognition cameras in public places, as part of efforts to reduce crime.
The technology involves capturing digital images of people’s faces and then comparing them with a ‘watch list’ of known or suspected criminals.
It is already used by police forces in other parts of the UK, but has never been deployed by Police Scotland, with concerns over privacy, civil liberties, and ‘false positives’ often highlighted.
The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner, Dr Brian Plastow, has now called for action to be taken by the Scottish Government over what he described as the nation’s “hopelessly outdated” strategy on public surveillance.
Writing for 1919, he criticised a motion opposing police use of live facial recognition (LFR) which was passed at the SNP conference last year, despite the technology already being used by supermarkets to deter shoplifters.
“This poses the obvious question of why the SNP trusts supermarkets to use this technology to catch shoplifters more than it trusts the Chief Constable to use it to catch murderers, terrorists, rapists, and paedophiles,” he wrote.
“As the world has moved on, government strategy on public space surveillance in Scotland has not.
“Experts, watchdogs, and parliamentary motions highlight that Scotland’s strategy is hopelessly outdated, lacks centralised oversight, and fails to address modern technologies such as facial recognition.
“At a time when overall crime in Scotland including sexual crime has increased, when police officer numbers have fallen significantly since 2013, when there are pressures on police budgets, and when more and more criminals are the subject of early release from prison, a strategic shift from ambivalence to assurance in government thinking on all forms of public space surveillance and oversight mechanisms is now required.”
Plastow’s comments come in the wake of a similar call by the head of the Scottish police watchdog, who said LFR should be used to prevent football-related disorder.
Craig Naylor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, said in his annual report that “technologies such as facial recognition” should be “explored and enacted” to deter fans who have been banned from grounds.
Justice Secretary Neil Gray has said the responsibility for any rollout of the technology lies with Police Scotland, which is currently considering its options following a recent consultation on biometrics.
However, Plastow has argued that rather than leaving the decision up to Police Scotland, primary legislation passed at Holyrood would be “by far the best and safest route” to the introduction of LFR.
In a letter to the Scottish Parliament’s criminal justice committee in March, he said this would lead to serious debate and scrutiny, helping to resolve the “critical ethical dilemma” posed by the technology.
David Threadgold, chair of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), said: “Crime and criminality is changing in Scotland. Criminals are making use of technology to commit crime, and we have to match them.
“Live facial recognition technology is already being used by other law enforcement agencies across the world.
“While we absolutely acknowledge the human rights concerns that exist, if we do not embrace this technology, we will fall further behind in our ability to prevent and detect crime, and ultimately keep everybody safe in the community.”
Earlier this year, the High Court in London rejected claims that the Metropolitan Police had broken human rights and privacy law through its use of the technology.
The force said that 2,100 arrests have been made since the start of 2024 due to its LFR cameras, and that in 2025 alone, more than three million people walked past them with only 12 false alerts being logged. None of these led to an arrest.
Citing these figures, Threadgold added: “This should provide reassurance to the public that this is not going to be wrongly identifying dozens and dozens of people in our communities.
“The procedures and the protocols would have to be sufficiently rigid to make sure that before any member of the public could ever end up on a watch list, there would have to be justifiable reasons, in the same way as an officer seeking a warrant requires sufficient evidence for it.”
Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs said Police Scotland was still considering the deployment of LFR, and was liaising with the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner on the subject.
He added: “We have a duty to use new technologies to safeguard our communities. New technologies can offer transformative opportunities for modern policing, through supporting investigations and identification.
“We want people to recognise both the value of new technologies and be confident that Police Scotland has the right governance and the right measures in place, and that consideration and implementation of new technologies reflects our commitment to human rights, ethical oversight, and transparency.
“We are considering next steps following on from responses to our consultation on the Biometrics Strategy, which highlighted both public support for and the need for assurance, governance and scrutiny around our potential use of new technologies.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Any deployment of new technology would be an operational matter for the Chief Constable under the scrutiny of the Scottish Police Authority, provided it complies with data protection laws, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner’s statutory Code of Practice.”
