His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary said police using retrospective facial recognition risk wrongly identifying and arresting innocent people because some investigators treat matches as evidence rather than intelligence.
The report said officers sometimes failed to make corroborating checks, while poor-quality probe images — including blurred photos and shots with multiple faces — further reduced match reliability.
Ethnic minorities face higher risks because algorithmic bias still leads to more false flags, and inspectors also found custody images that should have been deleted were still being retained.
Kathryn Stone said public support depends on stronger safeguards, human judgment and a clearer statutory framework, while critics said weak logging and oversight leave people vulnerable to becoming suspects without knowing why.