Expert Challenges Met Police Claims of Bias-Free Facial Recognition Ahead of Notting Hill Carnival

Published: 23 August ‘2025. The English Chronicle Desk. A report for the English Chronicle Online.

A leading expert has questioned the Metropolitan Police’s assertion that their live facial recognition (LFR) system is free from bias, casting doubt on claims that the technology has been independently verified as impartial. The Met plans to deploy LFR at its largest scale yet during the upcoming Notting Hill Carnival in west London, with cameras set up at two key access points. This comes despite guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission declaring police use of LFR unlawful.

Professor Pete Fussey, who conducted the only independent academic review of police facial recognition and formerly advised the Met on the system, said the evidence cited by the police does not substantiate their claims. The Met maintains that reforms following a 2023 National Physical Laboratory (NPL) study ensure the system is effectively bias-free. Fussey countered that the NPL report’s findings do not support such sweeping statements.

The study tested the system at different sensitivity settings, where higher sensitivity increases detection but also the risk of biased results across race, gender, and age. At a 0.6 sensitivity level, the study recorded seven false positives, all involving ethnic minorities. The results were based on 178,000 images and 400 volunteers walking past cameras, simulating large crowds at five locations over 34.5 hours. Fussey argues this sample is too small to justify the Met’s confidence in bias elimination.

Currently, the Met uses the system at a 0.64 sensitivity, which the study did not fully test for false positives, leaving Fussey concerned that public statements about bias-free performance are not sufficiently evidence-based. The Met’s director of intelligence, Lindsey Chiswick, defended the force’s approach, asserting that the LFR setting mitigates potential bias and that the technology is used fairly above the recommended threshold.

During the carnival, warning signs will inform attendees of LFR deployment, and cameras will be linked to a database of wanted suspects. Police hope the system will act as a deterrent while retrospective recognition will help identify perpetrators of assaults. Fussey emphasized the need for accountability and adherence to human rights standards, while the Met highlighted past performance, noting extremely low false positive rates, with none of those flagged being arrested automatically.

Ahead of the event, the police have also made significant security preparations, including arrests, prison recalls, bans, and confiscations of weapons, underscoring the force’s wider safety strategy.