TL;DR

Avon and Somerset Police intends to use live facial recognition (LFR) for the first time in Bath on 25 November, the day before the city’s Christmas market opens. Bath MP Wera Hobhouse and the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Strasburger have written to chief constable Sarah Crew asking her to hold off until Parliament sets specific rules, the Sun reported on 12 November.

Their letter calls the deployment “draconian” and says there has been “zero public consultation”. Both the force and the area’s police commissioner dispute that.

The case on each side

The objection rests on the legal gap. The government said earlier this month that it would bring in stronger laws on police use of the technology, a plan we reported on, but no timetable has been given. Lord Strasburger says police “must not start using this technology” until Parliament has done so. The letter also argues LFR “wastes police time and money” and “delivers poor results”.

The force says it has prepared carefully. Assistant chief constable Jon Cummins told the Sun that Bath is the first step in a wider plan to introduce LFR across the force area, that over a dozen UK forces already use it, and that the deployment has “clear safeguards and independent scrutiny”. He said the force is considering the concerns raised, and that while a legal framework already exists, it welcomes dedicated legislation.

Clare Moody, the commissioner, says residents, academics, experts and community leaders were all consulted before the decision, and that she will watch the force’s use of LFR closely.

Why Bath

Inspector Stuart King said Bath was chosen for its high footfall, especially at Christmas. The market runs from 26 November to 13 December around Bath Abbey, with more than 245 stalls, and has drawn over 400,000 visitors in past years.

LFR cameras capture live images of faces and compare them against pre-approved watchlists. Possible matches are reviewed by trained officers, and images that do not match are deleted automatically.

Looking Forward

The dispute is less about this market than about sequencing. In our view, forces adopting LFR before the promised law arrives take on the risk that the rules, once written, require changes to how they deploy it. For UK councils, event organisers and businesses in busy town centres, Bath is a useful test of how far a consultation by a commissioner’s office satisfies local representatives who say none took place.