Met hails fixed facial-recognition cameras after one arrest every 35 minutes in Croydon

The Metropolitan Police has declared its first trial of permanently mounted live facial recognition cameras a success, reporting 173 arrests over six months in the south London district of Croydon. The force says the results vindicate a more permanent approach to the technology and could pave the way for similar installations elsewhere in the capital.

The pilot, which ran from October 2025 to March 2026, was the first time the force fixed the technology to existing street furniture such as lampposts rather than mounting it on police vans. Cameras were deployed at two locations on Croydon High Street and monitored remotely by specialist officers, allowing operations to run without the visible presence of a parked surveillance vehicle.

Croydon was chosen in part because of its busy town centre and its profile as a location with persistent concerns about shoplifting, robbery and violence. The Met argues that fixing cameras in a known hotspot lets officers maintain a consistent watch for wanted individuals rather than relying on intermittent van deployments.

What the figures show

Across 24 operations the cameras helped secure an arrest roughly every 35 minutes, for offences including kidnap, rape and serious sexual assault. The Met reported a 10.5 per cent fall in recorded crime in the deployment area and a 21 per cent drop in violence against women and girls. One woman wanted for more than 20 years was identified and detained.

“These results show the difference this technology can make to public safety.”

— A Metropolitan Police spokesperson

The force says the Croydon scheme builds on more than 1,700 arrests made across the capital using the technology since the start of 2024. Officers stress that the system only flags individuals whose biometric data matches a watchlist of people wanted by police or the courts, and that images of people who do not generate a match are, they say, deleted automatically.

• 173 arrests recorded over the six-month Croydon trial
• Roughly one arrest every 35 minutes across 24 operations
• A 10.5 per cent fall in recorded crime in the deployment area
• A 21 per cent drop in reported violence against women and girls
• More than 1,700 arrests across London using the technology since 2024

How the technology works

Live facial recognition compares the faces of people passing the cameras in real time against a pre-loaded watchlist. When the system registers a possible match, an alert is sent to officers, who review the result and decide whether to make a stop. Police describe this human check as a crucial safeguard, arguing that no arrest is made on the say-so of an algorithm alone.

Supporters of the approach say fixed installations offer efficiency and consistency, freeing officers from the logistics of moving and operating vans, and providing continuous coverage in areas with high footfall and elevated crime. They also point to the deterrent effect of a known surveillance presence.

Civil-liberties concerns

Privacy campaigners continue to warn about the accuracy and proportionality of routine biometric surveillance, and have pressed for stronger legal safeguards before any wider rollout. Critics argue that scanning the faces of thousands of innocent passers-by amounts to a form of mass surveillance, and that the legal framework governing the technology has not kept pace with its deployment.

“Scanning the public on this scale should not happen without a clear, debated legal basis.”

— A civil-liberties campaigner

Concerns have also been raised about the risk of false matches, and about whether error rates fall evenly across different demographic groups. While the Met points to improvements in the underlying systems, campaigners want independent verification of accuracy claims and clearer rules on watchlist composition, data retention and oversight.

Background: a contested rollout

Facial recognition has been one of the most contentious tools in modern British policing. Earlier deployments prompted legal challenges and critical commentary from regulators, and successive watchdogs have called for a more explicit statutory footing. The absence of a single dedicated law governing the technology means its use has been shaped by a patchwork of existing legislation, force policy and court rulings, a situation campaigners describe as inadequate for a tool of such reach.

The Croydon trial therefore represents not just an operational milestone for the Met but a test case in the broader argument over how far automated surveillance should extend into everyday public space.

What happens next

The Met is expected to use the Croydon results to make the case for expanding fixed cameras to other parts of London, a move that would intensify scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers and rights groups. The coming debate is likely to focus less on whether the technology can catch wanted people, which the force says is now demonstrated, and more on the safeguards, transparency and legal basis that should accompany its growth. How that balance is struck may set the template for biometric policing across the rest of the country.