Six-hour facial recognition trial leads to arrests

A live facial recognition trial adopted by a police force to find criminals and prevent crime has led to five arrests after more than 47,000 faces were scanned.

Suffolk Police placed two vans with the equipment at the Cornhill in Ipswich on Saturday for six hours.

Four of the people arrested were for people failing to appear before court - while a fifth was for shop theft.

Assistant Chief Constable Eamonn Bridger said he was "optimistic" the technology would be used again in the future.

The equipment was borrowed from Essex Police and compared live camera feeds of faces against a predetermined database - or watchlist - of people of interest.

Images of those not on the watchlist were automatically and immediately deleted and not stored.

Where there was a positive match, officers on the ground took actions to confirm ID and then assessed what the next actions would be.

"This technology has been proven elsewhere to be an effective tactic for locating and arresting suspects so it was pleasing to see such a positive outcome with our trial in Ipswich," ACC Bridger said.

He added that it was "encouraging" to see the public expressing interest in the technology on the day.

The Suffolk police and crime commissioner, Tim Passmore, expressed his thanks to Essex Police for supporting the trial.

"I'm really pleased to see such positive and immediate results from this live facial recognition trial," he added.

"This technology has huge potential to bring criminals to justice and to prevent crime, which I trust is welcomed by everyone."

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