The use made by Leicestershire Police of Facial Recognition Technology is to be examined by the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Ethics Committee at a public meeting being held this week.
The Ethics, Integrity and Complaints Committee, which meets at 2pm on Friday 4 December, will also discuss the latest complaints figures against the police.
Friday’s committee meeting, which is open to the public and the media, will be held at Leicestershire Police’s Headquarters in St John’s, Enderby, starting at 2pm. Also in attendance will be the force’s Deputy Chief Constable Roger Bannister and other force personnel, together with the Chief Executive of the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner, Paul Stock, and his colleagues.
Leicestershire Police began trialing Facial Recognition Technology in May 2013. It works by the force uploading all images taken of detainees in custody into the NeoFace system. Images from a crime scene (for example CCTV images) are then checked against the NeoFace database and within three seconds a match is found if the person is on the Neoface database.
DCC Bannister will explain in detail how the force is using the system to combat crime and the legal framework within which it operates. He will also give the committee examples of how the system has helped to catch offenders, find missing people and recover illegal drugs.
In a separate agenda item, the committee will be given a presentation about the latest complaints figures which have seen a significant increase in recent months in Leicestershire. The presentation will cover the types of complaints which have seen the biggest increases, and explain what the Force is doing to enhance officer behaviour and reduce these complaints.
The Ethics, Integrity and Complaints Committee was established by Sir Clive Loader earlier this year with the power to examine, and advise the Chief Constable about, the conduct of the Police.
The five committee members, who live or work in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, meet regularly to scrutinise a range of different aspects of behaviour and policing services.
The committee members are:
· Professor Cillian Ryan, (Chairman), economist and Pro Vice-Chancellor & Dean of the Faculty of Business & Law De Montfort University
· Dr Mark Peel, (Deputy Chairman), Senior Lecturer, School of Social Work and Research and Consultancy, University of Leicester
· Dr Steven Cammiss Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Leicester
· Ms Lois Dugmore, Nurse consultant, dual diagnosis, Care quality commission specialist advisor
· Ms Lynne Richards, Head of Fundraising at the National Forest Company
Posted on Monday 9th May 2016