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Police in the UK have carried out hundreds of facial recognition searches using the national passport photo database — a move campaigners call a “historic breach of the right to privacy,” The Telegraph has reported.
Civil liberties groups say the number of police requests to tap into passport and immigration photo records for suspect identification has soared in recent years. Traditionally, searches for facial matches were limited to police mugshot databases. Now, dozens of forces are turning to the Home Office’s store of more than 50 million passport images to match suspects from CCTV or doorbell footage.
Government ministers argue the system helps speed up criminal investigations. Critics, however, say it is edging Britain closer to an “Orwellian” surveillance state.
A major concern is that passport holders are never informed if their photo has been used in a police search. The UK’s former biometrics watchdog has warned that the practice risks being disproportionate and eroding public trust.
According to figures obtained via freedom of information requests by Big Brother Watch, passport photo searches rose from just two in 2020 to 417 in 2023. In the first ten months of 2024 alone, police had already conducted 377 such searches. Immigration photo database searches — containing images gathered by Border Force — also increased sharply, reaching 102 last year, seven times higher than in 2020.
The databases contain images of people who have never been convicted of a crime, yet campaigners say the searches take place with minimal legal oversight. While officials claim the technology is reserved for serious offences, evidence suggests it is being used for a wide range of investigations.
Currently, there is no national guidance from the Home Office or the College of Policing on the use of facial recognition in law enforcement. Big Brother Watch has issued a legal warning to the Government, threatening court action over what it calls an “unlawful breach of privacy.”
Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said:
“The Government has taken all of our passport photos and secretly turned them into mugshots to build a giant, Orwellian police database without the public’s knowledge or consent and with absolutely no democratic or legal mandate. This has led to repeated, unjustified and ongoing intrusions on the entire population’s privacy.”
Sir Keir Starmer has voiced support for expanding police use of facial recognition — including live street surveillance, retrospective image searches, and a new app for on-the-spot suspect identification.
Sir David Davis, Conservative MP, accused the Government of creating a “biometric digital identity system by the backdoor” without Parliament’s consent. The position of Biometrics Commissioner, responsible for oversight of such technology, was vacant for nearly a year until July.
Government officials maintain that facial recognition is already bound by existing laws, and stress its role in catching dangerous criminals. They say a detailed plan for its future use — including the legal framework and safeguards — will be published in the coming months.