Police to use face scanning for Uefa Champions final
ANYONE visiting Cardiff for the Champions League final may have their faces checked using facial recognition software.
Police have been given funding to capture images of anyone in the city and compare images to their databases of known suspects.
The security operation for the showpiece match is “unprecedented” according to South Wales Police, in the wake of terror attacks around the world.
Most recently the team bus of Borussia Dortmund was targeted en route to their quarter-final Champions League tie at home to Monaco.
On the day of the final 170,000 fans are expected to be in the city centre and police have asked anyone not coming to see the final to stay away from the city.
Images will be captured on the day of the final, June 3, in and around the Principality Stadium and Cardiff Central railway station
The operation is a pilot of real-time facial recognition software that South Wales Police is testing out for forces around the UK.
The force has also been given funding for a separate trial of software that enables them to cross reference CCTV images and other picture with their database of 500,000 custody images.
South Wales Police’s senior officer in charge of the event said it would be a major test of the technology.
Chief Superintendent Jon Edwards said: “South Wales Police has secured funding from the Home Office to develop automated facial recognition (AFR) technology for policing.
“The Uefa Champions League finals in Cardiff give us a unique opportunity to test and prove the concept of this technology in a live operational environment, which will hopefully prove the benefits and the application of such technology across policing.
“This will be one of the largest security operations ever undertaken in the Welsh capital and the use of technology will support the policing operation which aims to keep people safe during what will be a very busy time in Cardiff.”
Security measures in the city will include four different checks for fans entering the stadium as well as security gates being returned to the city and bans on types of transport.
There will also be street closures around both the stadium itself except to fans who have tickets and total street closures in Cardiff Bay from June 1 for the four-day fans festival.
The website Vice interviewed the UK Government’s surveillance camera commissioner Tony Porter about the face recognition technology.
He said that incidents like the recent attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus were an example of why law enforcement organisations are looking at using facial recognition.
But he said there was code of practice that forces must adhere to.
He told the site: “My office has been in touch with South Wales Police to help them ensure that when deploying AFR they are complying with the code [of practice].
“I have seen the use of AFR increase [over] the past few years and a recent report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology indicated that facial recognition is a difficult challenge.
“Getting the best, most accurate results for each intended application requires good algorithms, a dedicated design effort, a multidisciplinary team of experts, limited-size image databases, and field tests to properly calibrate and optimize the technology”.