Abstract
The use of automated facial recognition in law enforcement is still a novel practice and as a result the legislative framework for this technology is ill-defined. The judgement of The Queen (on application of Edward Bridges) v The Chief Constable of South Wales Police [2020] EWCA Civ 1058 is the first case in the world that examines pertinent legal questions pertaining to this new technology. Automatic facial recognition may be used in law enforcement, but to prevent massive human rights violations, operators should perform their duties within a well-defined legal framework where discretion is kept to the minimum, and strict data-retention policies are followed. Furthermore, human oversight should always be part of an automated facial recognition system to ensure accuracy, fairness, and compliance with the law.
Highlights
Automated Facial Recognition as a new technology has the potential to change law enforcement worldwide
(a) Automated facial recognition is a new technology with the potential to be very intrusive on people's human rights;112 (b) automated facial recognition may infringe upon people's rights, it does not preclude law enforcement from using it;113 (c) For automated facial recognition to be used in law enforcement, it has to be deployed within a very specific legal framework;114 (d) Automatic facial recognition information should not be collected unless there is a specific need to do so;115 (e) Automatic facial recognition information should not be kept for longer than is necessary;116 (f) A limitation of further processing of biometric data should be introduced in the legal framework
The two cases of Bridges and R-Bridges are excellent benchmarks for providing many useful principles for the lawful use of automated facial recognition in law enforcement. It explains that this new technology may be used to assist law enforcement in performing its duties, and outlines the pitfalls that the use of automated facial recognition may present in practice
Summary
Automated Facial Recognition as a new technology has the potential to change law enforcement worldwide. The most common way to use this new technology in law enforcement is to process facial biometric data from known offenders, i.e., to extract facial biometrics of people known to law enforcement from existing photos or video feeds. In the recent case of The Queen (on application of Edward Bridges) v The Chief Constable of South Wales Police (RBridges) the United Kingdom Court of Appeal had to rule on a number of these issues. As this is the first case in the world dealing with automatic facial recognition, the purpose of this contribution is to illustrate and collate the pertinent issues regarding automated facial recognition as found in this. In order to understand the matter thoroughly, the original divisional court case of Edward Bridges v The Chief Constable of South Wales Police (Bridges) will be looked at first, and the appeal in R-Bridges will be discussed
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