Facial recognition technology is to be rolled out across England and Wales to help all police forces, under sweeping reforms announced by the home secretary.
Shabana Mahmood told MPs that the government will invest more than £140m in new technologies to assist officers in the fight against crime.
The minister also announced in the Commons that all forces across England and Wales will be given artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help reduce the amount of time that officers must spend behind a desk, allowing them to be on the beat more instead.
Alongside the expansion of AI within the police, the nationwide rollout of live facial recognition (LFR) will be used to catch wanted rapists and murderers.
The Home Office has called the changes the biggest reform to policing since the police were professionalised two centuries ago.
Laying out the Police Reform White Paper, Ms Mahmood revealed that more tech experts, such as digital forensic specialists, will work within police forces to tackle fraudsters, criminal networks on the dark web and identify criminal hotspots.
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The home secretary said: “Crime has evolved – but police forces haven’t.
“Fraudsters and serious organised crime bosses are outsmarting them.
“Under my reforms, forces will now hire more digital, cyber and forensic officers to put vile criminals behind bars.”
A significant reduction in the number of police forces across England and Wales from the current 43, in an effort to streamline policing. This also includes the creation of a National Police Service – dubbed the “British FBI”.
A plan to establish local policing areas for each town, city or borough, and a commitment to introduce 13,000 extra neighbourhood officers by 2029.
A new “licence to practice” for all officers – to boost standards and increase trust in the police. This will be introduced alongside improvements to development opportunities for officers, with a mandated national performance management framework.
The nationwide rollout of live facial recognition technology and the use of AI by each police force to cut admin.
Responding in the Commons. shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the plans don’t ddress total police numbers, claiming they are falling under the current Labour government.
He said: “The Home Secretary can set targets and make announcements, but the fact is she is presiding over falling total police numbers and the public will be less safe as a result.
“To make things even worse, Labour plans to abolish prison sentences of under a year, so even the most prolific shoplifters will never face jail.
“This is a recipe for disaster cooked up by the home secretary in her previous role [as justice secretary].”
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