Metropolitan Police plans to use facial recognition at Notting Hill Carnival
The Metropolitan Police planned to use live facial recognition at the 2025 Notting Hill Carnival, prompting 11 civil liberty and anti-racism groups to call for the plan to be dropped. The groups cited the technology's documented accuracy disparities for women and people of colour, and an ongoing judicial review involving a black Londoner who was reportedly wrongly identified and detained.
What happened
The Metropolitan Police planned to deploy live facial recognition (LFR) technology at the 2025 Notting Hill Carnival. Eleven civil liberty and anti-racism groups, including Liberty, Big Brother Watch and the Runnymede Trust, called on the Met Commissioner to drop the plans, describing LFR as 'a mass surveillance tool that treats all Carnival-goers as potential suspects'.
The groups cited an ongoing judicial review brought by Shaun Thompson, a black Londoner who says he was wrongly identified by the system and detained. A 2023 National Physical Laboratory study found that the NeoFace system used by the Met was less accurate for women and people of colour depending on the algorithm.
Reported impact
Civil liberty groups argued the technology could be 'less accurate for women and people of colour' and has a 'well-documented history of inaccurate outcomes and racial bias'. They raised concerns that using the technology at Notting Hill Carnival, an event that celebrates the British African Caribbean community, was inappropriate.
Shaun Thompson reportedly experienced wrongful identification and detention by the system, which is the subject of an ongoing judicial review.
Index analysis
The groups stated there is 'no clear legal basis' for the Metropolitan Police's use of LFR, noting that no law mentions facial recognition technology and Parliament has never considered or scrutinised its use.
The 2023 National Physical Laboratory study documented accuracy disparities in the NeoFace system across gender and ethnicity, depending on the algorithm used.
Governance controls
The Metropolitan Police said LFR is 'accurate and balanced across ethnicity and gender' and insisted it would help keep people safe at the event.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.