Defiant police hold 16m photos for facial recognition

The home office under Theresa May launched a review into the use of the images. It said that the report will be published in due course.
The home office under Theresa May launched a review into the use of the images. It said that the report will be published in due course.
FRANK AUGSTEIN/AP

More than 16 million images of people who may have committed no crime have been added to a national police gallery that identifies individuals using facial recognition software, ministers have revealed. It is the first time that a figure for the number of searchable images has been released.

The police national database (PND) contains a growing number of “custody images” — people who have been arrested but may not have been charged and convicted — despite warnings from a senior judge, a police watchdog and a Commons committee.

New database and search technology has been put into operation without public or parliamentary consultation or debate, and the issue is the subject of a home office review completed in January that has yet to report. Some