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22 May 2026 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 8162 / Categories: Features , Legal services , Criminal , Public
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Scanning the streets

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Nicholas Dobson surveys the lawfulness of live facial recognition
  • The challenge to the Metropolitan Police Service’s live facial recognition policy, adopted on 11 September 2024, failed since it was found to be ‘in accordance with the law’ under Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and ‘prescribed by law’ under Arts 10 and 11.

Facial recognition can be challenging, particularly for those with high mileage on the ageing clock. For while recognising a face might be easy, putting a name to it can be harder. Groucho Marx, though, had no such problem. ‘I never forget a face,’ he once declared. ‘But in your case, I’ll be glad to make an exception’.

However, while facial recognition might be awkward socially, it won’t usually end up in court. But this was not so for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) where on 21 April 2026 Lord Justice Holgate and Mrs Justice Farbey dismissed a judicial review claim challenging the lawfulness of the live facial recognition (LFR) policy of MPS, adopted

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