{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreicdsf5sj2uxl5j6tbqdxfnuwxbt2ip7ycxtlyhqaksthyvqs3akei",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:oznbnvgr7dmvddiyvr7dih52/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhhumq77hub2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreigq76iodcggundmdvxzktrkzvz4y2cnlrrc4zu3ljmxhictuu5544"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 55449
  },
  "path": "/news/essex-police-facial-recognition-tech-black-people-ethnicity",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-20T03:58:30.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Met Police chief urges US to expedite release of unredacted Epstein files amid Mandelson probes",
    "Cardiff schools plunged into lockdown after police warned of 'safety' concern",
    "Face of Metropolitan Police's recruitment campaign charged with stalking woman",
    "Police.AI to free up police paperwork",
    "British equivalent to the FBI",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nA police force has stopped the use of live facial recognition (LFR) cameras after it identified more black people than other ethnicities.\n\nEssex Police's facial recognition cameras, mounted on vans and used to identify people on watchlists, will be be paused over \"bias\" concerns.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe force said it paused the use after \"potential bias in the positive identification rate\" - but now believes the issue has been corrected with an update to its algorithm.\n\nUniversity of Cambridge researchers tested LFR during one of Essex Police's deployments, with the help of nearly 200 volunteers.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\nThe study found it was significantly more likely to correctly identify black people.\n\nBlack people were 27 per cent more likely to be identified than all other ethnicities, and 31 per cent more likely than white people.\n\nThe technology was also 14 per cent more likely to spot men than women.\n\nThe research found it correctly identified around half of those on the watchlist, and was extremely rare for someone to be flagged who was not on the list.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nResearchers said it raised \"questions about fairness\" that should be monitored.\n\nEssex Police told Sky News it commissioned two studies, and the second one suggested no bias.\n\nBut the force has paused the use of LFR to work \"with the algorithm software provider\" to update the system.\n\nEssex Police added: \"We have revised our policies and procedures and are now confident that we can start deploying this important technology as part of policing operations to trace and arrest wanted criminals.\n\n### LATEST POLICE NEWS:\n\n\n\n\n  * Met Police chief urges US to expedite release of unredacted Epstein files amid Mandelson probes\n  * Cardiff schools plunged into lockdown after police warned of 'safety' concern\n  * Face of Metropolitan Police's recruitment campaign charged with stalking woman\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"We will continue to monitor all results to ensure there is no risk of bias against any one section of the community.\"\n\nThe study also investigated the effectiveness of LFR by the force.\n\nThirteen police forces were using LFR by the end of last year, and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said usage of the technology was set to expand from 10 vans to 50.\n\nResearchers found about 1.3 million faces had been scanned from August 2024 to February 2025 and led to 123 interventions, where police spoke to someone identified by LFR.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nFrom those interventions, 48 arrests were made.\n\nThere was only one case of mistaken intervention caused by LFR technology.\n\nHome Secretary Shabana Mahmood said £115million would be invested into a national centre for artificial intelligence called Police.AI to free up police paperwork and ensure new technologies, such as LFR, are used responsibly in January.\n\nShe also announced a British equivalent to the FBI, called the National Police Service.\n\nThe Home Office said a person's image is \"immediately and automatically\" deleted if it does not match the watchlist and all deployments are \"targeted, intelligence-led, time-bound, and geographically limited\".\n\nMore than 1,300 people suspected of serious crimes had been arrested in London thanks to LFR between January 2024 and September 2025.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Police force stops using facial recognition tech after it spots more black people than other ethnicities"
}