AI and facial recognition to be rolled out as Britain’s ‘broken’ policing system faces sweeping reforms
What you need to know about changes to UK police forces
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced sweeping reforms to policing in England and Wales, including a £140m investment to significantly increase the use of AI and live facial recognition technology.
- The technology rollout aims to free up 6 million police hours each year, equivalent to 3,000 officers, by deploying AI for tasks such as CCTV analysis, deepfake detection, digital forensics, and administrative duties.
- The number of live facial recognition vans will be increased five-fold, from 10 to 50, for use by forces nationwide to help apprehend wanted criminals.
- A new National Policing Service (NPS) will be established, merging existing national agencies like the National Crime Agency and Counter Terror Policing under a single national police commissioner, marking the biggest overhaul in 200 years.
- While police chiefs welcomed the reforms as “long overdue”, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners criticised the proposals for concentrating too much power, and the Shadow Home Secretary raised concerns about falling officer numbers and potential force mergers.