Police use facial recognition near Boardmasters - Published Police are using facial recognition tools near the Boardmasters festival site. Devon and Cornwall Police said the aim was to try to reduce the risk of violence against women and girls, organised serious crime, identify sexual offenders and prevent illegal drugs being brought into the county. The live facial recognition (LFR) tools - which have not been used in Cornwall before - would only be used in the town of Newquay and not at the festival site at Watergate Bay, officers said. Images of people who were not of interest would be "automatically and permanently deleted within seconds" and police would not retain the data, Ch Insp Peter Shabytah said. The force said the LFR technology would operate in real-time "comparing a live camera feed of faces against a pre-determined watchlist", possibly including people wanted in connection with criminal investigations. It said vans using the equipment would be "clearly signposted when deployed" and said images captured of people who were not on a pre-determined watchlist were "instantly deleted forever from the system". "When the system suggests a possible match, trained officers on the ground would review it and decide whether to engage with the person," officers said. Shabytah said the first outing to use it was seeing a CCTV van with the technology deployed in the town centre at a known anti-social behaviour and crime hotspot. He added: "Perhaps in years to come we might move closer to the site and we'll work out what the best location is for us." 'We're trying to make this as safe as possible' Supt Vicky Howell gives the police point of view At Boardmasters itself, police event commander Supt Vicky Howell said "months of planning and preparation" had gone in to "working with the event