WA Police facial recognition trial identifies 209 suspects with 79 arrests
Australia's first live facial recognition trial by Western Australian Police scanned over 900,000 faces from June 2026, generating 209 alerts and 79 arrests, but raised ethical concerns about privacy, consent, and accuracy disparities across demographic groups.
What happened
Since June 2026, the Western Australian Police Force trialled live facial recognition technology across metropolitan and regional areas. The system scanned more than 900,000 faces at public locations including major crowd events and compared them against a police watch list.
Reported impact
The trial generated 209 alerts of matched faces, resulting in 79 arrests and identification of 114 registered sex offenders. Eight incorrect alerts were recorded during the trial.
Index analysis
Privacy scholars raised concerns that facial surveillance scans large numbers of people without meaningful consent or control, with most scanned individuals not on police watch lists. Although WA police said non-watch-list images were pixelated in real time and not saved, experts cautioned that even small error rates can affect many people when large numbers are scanned.
Experts have cautioned the technology may perform differently across demographic groups. Concerns were raised about potential uneven distribution of errors affecting First Nations people and marginalised groups, which may contribute to societal inequalities.
Governance controls
WA police stated that images of people not on a watch list were pixelated in real time and not saved.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.