Met police using facial recognition in fresh crackdown on e-bike phone snatchers
How the Met Police is cracking down on e-bike phone snatchers
- The Metropolitan Police are deploying facial recognition technology to combat the increasing use of illegal e-bikes in London, which are linked to dangerous riding and phone-snatching incidents.
- Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley lauded the technology as one of the most significant innovations in crime-fighting in decades, claiming it has already aided in thousands of arrests.
- Police cameras can rapidly scan the faces of illegal e-bike riders for interception in targeted operations, with the Home Office providing £12.6 million in funding for facial recognition last year.
- The technology has faced considerable criticism, with the Equality and Human Rights Commission previously describing the Met Police’s live facial recognition policy as 'unlawful' and a potential 'chilling effect' on rights.
- Rules for e-bikes stipulate motors must cut out at 15.5mph; illegally modified e-bikes are treated as motorbikes, leading to their seizure and subsequent crushing by the police.