Judgment Approved by the court for handing down.
R (Bridges) -v- CC South Wales & ors
fact matched by the software). The threshold value is generally suggested by
the manufacturer, and depends on the intended use of the AFR system. Most
AFR systems, however, allow the end user to change the threshold value to
whatever they choose.
SWP’s use of AFR
10.
SWP is the police authority which is the national lead on testing and conducting trials
of AFR. SWP has a licence to use proprietary AFR software developed by NEC (now
North Gate Public Services (UK) Ltd) called “NeoFace Watch software”.
11.
SWP uses AFR in two ways. We are concerned in this appeal only with the use of the
AFR system which SWP calls “AFR Locate”. SWP deployed AFR Locate on about 50
occasions between May 2017 and April 2019 at a variety of large public events.
12.
When AFR Locate is deployed SWP mounts CCTV cameras on police vehicles, or on
poles or posts, so as to capture images of the face of anyone who passes within range
of the camera. As we have described above, digital images of faces of members of the
public are taken from the CCTV feeds and processed in real time to extract facial
biometric information. That information is then compared with facial biometric
information of persons on a watchlist prepared for the purpose of that specific
deployment.
13.
The watchlist is created from images held on databases maintained by SWP as part of
its ordinary policing activities, primarily from a database of custody photographs held
on SWP’s Niche Record Management System. The images selected for inclusion on a
watchlist will depend on the purpose of each specific deployment. The watchlists used
in the deployments in issue in this case have included (1) persons wanted on warrants,
(2) individuals who are unlawfully at large (having escaped from lawful custody), (3)
persons suspected of having committed crimes, (4) persons who may be in need of
protection (e.g. missing persons), (5) individuals whose presence at a particular event
causes particular concern, (6) persons simply of possible interest to SWP for
intelligence purposes and (7) vulnerable persons. To date, the watchlists used by SWP
have comprised between 400-800 people. The maximum capacity for a watchlist is
2,000 images but, as we understand it, this is because of the limits of the technology
used rather than any limitation of principle.
14.
As described above, a biometric template is taken from the images on the watchlist
which will then be used for the purposes of undertaking algorithmic comparisons with
the facial biometrics of members of the public captured on camera.
15.
If, during a deployment of AFR Locate, the software identifies a possible match
between a face captured on the CCTV and an image on the watchlist, the two images
are reviewed by an AFR operator (“the system operator”, who is a police officer) to
establish whether he or she believes that a match has in fact been made. If, upon
reviewing the images of the person on the watchlist and the person whose image has
been captured by CCTV, the system operator does not consider that they are the subject
of interest, then no further action is taken. If, however, it is believed that there is a
match, other officers stationed nearby may be notified, and they will intervene, for
example by asking to speak to the person concerned and, if appropriate, using statutory
powers to stop and search or arrest the person.