Essex Police Pauses Live Facial Recognition Over Racial Bias
Essex Police suspended its live facial recognition system after studies by the University of Cambridge found it was statistically more likely to correctly identify black people than other ethnic groups and more likely to identify men than women. The force had deployed the system since August 2024 and said it would resume use following software and algorithm updates.
What happened
Essex Police deployed live facial recognition (LFR) cameras from August 2024 and scanned approximately 1.3 million faces in public spaces between August 2024 and February 2025.
A study commissioned by Essex Police and conducted by the University of Cambridge involving 188 volunteers in a controlled field experiment found the system was 'statistically significantly more likely to correctly identify black participants than participants from other ethnic groups' and more likely to correctly identify men than women.
Essex Police paused the use of LFR cameras after the study identified 'a potential bias in the positive identification rate' of black people over white people on its watchlist. The force said that following updates to its algorithm and software, it was confident that LFR cameras could be deployed again.
Reported impact
The system correctly identified about half the people on the watchlist who passed the cameras. Officers intervened 123 times to speak to people and carried out 48 arrests, roughly one for every 27,000 faces scanned, with one confirmed mistaken intervention.
Index analysis
The study raised questions about fairness in the deployment of facial recognition technology, with one of the report's authors noting that 'the chances of being identified as being on a police watchlist are greater if you're black.' The Information Commissioner's Office warned other police forces to have mitigations in place.
Governance controls
Essex Police commissioned two independent studies into its use of LFR carried out by the University of Cambridge. The ICO said Essex Police had paused LFR deployments 'after identifying potential accuracy and bias risks'.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.