Legal safeguards vital if facial recognition tech is rolled out by Police Scotland A year has passed since the conclusion of what Police Scotland described as a “national conversation” about its potential use of live facial recognition (LFR), but it remains far from clear if, let alone when, the controversial technology will be adopted. The artificial intelligence-powered tech, which allows scans of human faces to be compared against police databases, is hailed by some justice figures as a crucial biometric tool in the fight against crime, and one that can be used in a justifiable and proportionate manner. Advertisement Hide AdAdvertisement Hide AdBut growing ethical concerns around algorithmic bias and accuracy have prompted a backlash, with human rights campaigners warning of a “historic shift” in the relationship between Police Scotland and the public. Not as effective as claimed Across England and Wales, LFR is being used by 13 forces, with the Met significantly scaling up its deployments; in the first four months of 2026, it has scanned more than 1.7 million faces. As far as key watchdogs are concerned, the rapid increase in LFR’s use presents significant problems. William Webster, the biometrics commissioner for England and Wales, cautioned this week that the “slow pace of legislation was trying to catch up with the real world” while Dr Brian Plastow, the Scottish biometrics commissioner, said the technology was “nowhere near as effective as the police claim it is”. Advertisement Hide AdAdvertisement Hide AdAlasdair Hay, chair of the Scottish Police Authority’s policing performance committee, has stressed that while no decision has been made, Scotland’s national force would be required to produce a bespoke code of practice, and demonstrate compliance with the biometrics commissioner’s own code. Police Scotland’s conversation exercise, meanwhile, found the public was split. While 49 per cent of respondents to