West Yorkshire Police have made several arrests after the first ever use of facial recognition cameras in Huddersfield.
Two Live Facial Recognition (LFR) cameras were deployed in Huddersfield last week in a three-day operation using new tools to catch those wanted for criminal offences.
Two vans were deployed in Huddersfield town centre on Wednesday, and one van deployed on the Thursday and Friday.
Suspects who triggered the cameras included a man wanted on suspicion of domestic stalking, as well as person wanted on warrant and a shoplifter. All three were arrested and taken into custody.
Six people subject to Sexual Harm Prevention Orders were also stopped and spoken with by officers.
Inspector Mark Pattinson of Kirklees Police, said: “Live Facial Recognition is an incredibly useful and very important tool and its first use in Kirklees over the past three days has delivered real results as we have seen.
“I hope the presence of these cameras, together with our recent week long operation to catch those wanted for domestic offending, is reassuring residents that we are doing all we can to get criminals off the streets of Huddersfield and wider Kirklees.
“Our day to day activity to catch on the run offenders in our town centres does of course continue, and continues to deliver results. We will look to bring LFR back to Kirklees to assist us in carrying out that work at the next practical opportunity."
Chief Inspector Dan Tillett who leads on LFR at West Yorkshire Police said: “Since we launched live facial recognition in West Yorkshire, we have taken great care in deploying the technology in places where intelligence has identified it would be most beneficial.
“This three day operation with colleagues in Huddersfield resulted in arrests including that of the suspect in a domestic stalking offence.”
"As a force, we’re accountable for the use of LFR and are clear that we are not using it for mass surveillance or indiscriminate monitoring, but rather as a targeted tool designed to support frontline officers.
“It also has a significant value in helping us find people who are missing and potentially at risk, as well as deterring criminal offending. More deployments will soon be taking place seek to maximise our use of this technology in helping make communities safer.”
