Met Police touts success of live facial recognition trial after woman wanted for more than 20 years is arrested in London

Several suspects have been arrested after being caught by facial recognition cameras, including a woman wanted for an assault more than 20 years ago.

During the six-month-long pilot, live facial recognition (LFR) cameras in static locations were stationed on Croydon High Street, in south London, instead of on vans.

Between October last year and March, the Metropolitan Police said 173 suspects were arrested for crimes including kidnapping, rape and serious sexual assault using the tech.

Officers said the cameras were used in 24 operations, including the arrest of a 36-year-old woman who was wanted for failing to appear at court for an assault in 2004.

The force also said a 31-year-old man who had been wanted for voyeurism for more than six months was arrested during the trial, as well as a 41-year-old man who was wanted over a rape in November.

During the trial, the force added that crime in the area reduced by 10.5% and there was a 21% reduction in violence against women and girls.

More than 470,000 people walked past the camera during the pilot. There was one false alert, where the person was spoken to by officers and then allowed to leave.

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Lindsey Chiswick, national and Met lead for live facial recognition, said the results of the trial "show why live facial recognition is such a powerful tool when it's used carefully, openly and in the right places".

She added that "the public can see the difference", and said: "We will continue using static cameras in Croydon as part of our regular live facial recognition deployments, which play a vital part in keeping London safe."

It comes after it was announced that facial recognition technology would be rolled out across the UK in April after a legal challenge against the Met from two claimants failed.

Youth worker Shaun Thompson, one of the claimants, said he was misidentified by the technology used by the force. The other person bringing the claim was Silkie Carlo, from the group Big Brother Watch.

Judges ruled the claimants' human rights had not been breached and the Met Police's policy gave an "adequate indication of the circumstances in which LFR will be used".

They also said the argument the technology risked discriminating against people due to their race had not been convincing.

Thirteen forces were using LFR by the end of last year, and the home secretary said in January the number of LFR vans would increase from 10 to 50.

However, Essex Police paused its use of the technology earlier this year due to racial bias concerns.

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