WA Police Trial Facial Recognition, Scanning Over 1 Million Faces and Making 122 Arrests

Facial Recognition Trial Concludes

Western Australia Police completed a five-month trial of real-time facial recognition technology. During the trial, 1,380,882 faces were scanned across 100 deployments in 43 regional and metropolitan locations. This included operations at the Perth royal show, where 223,749 faces were scanned.

Trial Outcomes

The trial resulted in 122 arrests. Additionally, the technology led officers to engage with 146 registered sex offenders and locate 10 individuals for welfare checks. A police spokesperson confirmed nine incorrect alerts were generated, representing an error rate of 0.00065% based on the total scans.

Police Response to False Alerts

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch addressed the false matches, stating that officers engaged with each individual involved in an incorrect alert. He clarified that no one was arrested due to these false alerts, and no complaints were made. Blanch acknowledged the technology is "not perfect" but maintained that officers followed up on alerts as they would with public suspicions.

Civil Liberties Concerns

Civil liberties advocates have criticized the WA police's framing of the error rate. Bill Rowlings, CEO of Civil Liberties Australia, argued that the incorrect rate should be calculated based on the conviction rate of the 122 arrested individuals, not just the initial alerts. Sarah Schwartz of the Human Rights Law Centre highlighted that each false match affects a real person who might be stopped or questioned due to an algorithmic error.