Met chief rejects calls to scrap live facial recognition at Notting Hill carnival
The Metropolitan police commissioner has hit back at demands to drop the use of live facial recognition cameras at this weekend’s Notting Hill carnival over concerns of racial bias and an impending legal challenge.Mark Rowley wrote in a letter that the instant face-matching technology would be used at Europe’s biggest street carnival “in a non-discriminatory way” using an algorithm that “does not perform in a way which exhibits bias”.He was responding to a letter from 11 anti-racist and civil liberty organisations, disclosed in the Guardian, that urged the Met to scrap the use of the technology at an event that celebrates the African-Caribbean community.The Runnymede Trust, Liberty, Big Brother Watch, Race on the Agenda, and Human Rights Watch were among those who claimed in the letter to Rowley on Saturday that the technology “will only exacerbate concerns about abuses of state power and racial discrimination within your force”.Campaigners claim the police have been allowed to “self-regulate” their use of the technology because of the lack of a legal framework and deploy the technology’s algorithm at lower settings that are biased against ethnic minorities and women.
The Met said last month it would deploy specially mounted cameras at entries and exits of the two-day event in west London,As many as 2 million people attend the second-biggest street festival in the world every year, held on the August bank holiday weekend,In his letter sent to the NGOs and charities, Rowley acknowledged that previous use of the technology at the carnival in 2016 and 2017 did not build public confidence,The Met’s former facial recognition system, which has since been improved, incorrectly identified 102 people as potential suspects and led to no arrests,“Since then, we’ve made considerable progress.
The current version of the algorithm is significantly improved, has undergone independent testing and validation, and now performs to a much higher standard,” Rowley said.He said the technology would target the “small minority” who commit serious crimes including violence and sexual offences.In 2024 there were 349 arrests made at the event, including for homicide, rape, possession of weapons, and other violence-related and sexual offences, Rowley said.“Together, these offences represent a threat to public safety and all those who seek to enjoy carnival safely.Our use of LFR is part of a much broader strategy to locate, disrupt, and deter the minority who pose such risks.
”Civil liberty groups have called on the Met to drop the use of LFR cameras after a high court challenge was launched last month by the anti-knife campaigner Shaun Thompson,Thompson, a Black British man, was wrongly identified by LFR as a criminal, held by police, and then faced demands from officers for his fingerprints,Rowley’s letter did not address Thompson’s challenge but dismissed claims that the police were operating without a legal framework,“The Equality Act 2010 places a legal obligation on public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination,” he wrote, adding that the European convention on human rights, and data protection laws, also covered LFR technology,Responding to Rowley’s letter, Rebecca Vincent, the interim director of the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said: “With no legislation governing live facial recognition, no governmental framework as promised by the home secretary, and a crucial judicial review pending, why the rush to accelerate use of this Orwellian technology? We’re meant to operate on the basis of ‘policing by consent’, yet no one has consented to this, and certainly not the attendees of this cultural celebration.
“We all want criminals off the streets, but turning carnival into a mass police lineup is not the way to do it.”The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.Secure Messaging in the Guardian appThe Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories.Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs.
This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu.Select ‘Secure Messaging’.SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and postIf you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.Finally, our guide at theguardian.
com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.
Michael Sheen says prospects for actors from poorer backgrounds ‘quite scary’
Michael Sheen has warned the pathways that helped him break into acting have all but collapsed, as he said the “bank of mum and dad” would be unable to support aspiring actors from poorer communities.The Good Omens star, who grew up in the working class community of Port Talbot, said he had benefited from school support, youth theatres and grants that have since come under financial pressure or been abolished entirely.He said his journey was also aided by a supportive family and the knowledge that his home town had already produced acting royalty in Richard Burton and Sir Anthony Hopkins. However, he said the prospect for actors from underprivileged backgrounds now looked “quite scary”.“Having those school plays where the drama was happening in my school – then there was a youth theatre that was funded through the education department of the council, and then I got a grant to go to drama school,” said Sheen, who was speaking at an event opening the Edinburgh TV festival
Aubrey Plaza talks about her husband’s suicide: ‘A daily struggle, obviously’
The actor Aubrey Plaza has opened up about the suicide of her husband, director Jeff Baena, who died in January.The White Lotus and Parks and Recreation star was speaking to Amy Poehler for her podcast Good Hang when she was asked how she was doing during “a terrible, terrible, tragic year”.“Right in this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you,” Plaza said. “Overall, I’m here and I’m functioning. I feel really grateful to be moving through the world
Met chief rejects calls to scrap live facial recognition at Notting Hill carnival
The Metropolitan police commissioner has hit back at demands to drop the use of live facial recognition cameras at this weekend’s Notting Hill carnival over concerns of racial bias and an impending legal challenge.Mark Rowley wrote in a letter that the instant face-matching technology would be used at Europe’s biggest street carnival “in a non-discriminatory way” using an algorithm that “does not perform in a way which exhibits bias”.He was responding to a letter from 11 anti-racist and civil liberty organisations, disclosed in the Guardian, that urged the Met to scrap the use of the technology at an event that celebrates the African-Caribbean community.The Runnymede Trust, Liberty, Big Brother Watch, Race on the Agenda, and Human Rights Watch were among those who claimed in the letter to Rowley on Saturday that the technology “will only exacerbate concerns about abuses of state power and racial discrimination within your force”.Campaigners claim the police have been allowed to “self-regulate” their use of the technology because of the lack of a legal framework and deploy the technology’s algorithm at lower settings that are biased against ethnic minorities and women
Broadcast News: a romcom set in a TV studio that manages to make integrity sexy
“I am concerned about the garbage that is masquerading as television these days,” the legendary US news anchor Walter Cronkite declared in 1989. “Most of it is real scandal tabloid journalism … absolutely, totally useless stuff.”Two years earlier Broadcast News was writing this on the wall. The decline of journalistic standards isn’t a conventional backdrop for a romcom (His Girl Friday being another key exception) but it was a matter close to the heart of James L Brooks, who had come up through CBS as a news writer before his prolific TV career (via The Mary Tyler Moore Show and, later, The Simpsons). In the wake of the thunderous success of his film Terms of Endearment, Brooks returned to CBS for a period of rigorous research and latched on to the decorated news producer Susan Zirinsky – the main inspiration for his next film’s indomitable heroine
Police officers warned against dancing with revellers at Notting Hill carnival
For George Michael, it was guilty feet that left him unable to dance. For Eddy Grant, a world full of problems left him rooted to the spot as the music played.But for police officers amid the sound systems at this weekend’s Notting Hill carnival, it is orders from on high that dictate that no matter how the beat moves them, they are banned from dancing with revellers.Down the decades the scenes of officers strutting their stuff was seen as a cheesy but welcome attempt at repairing strained community relations.But in a statement on Monday, the Metropolitan police made it clear they feel a twerk or rhythmic shake of the hips may distract or slow down the 7,000 officers deployed to the carnival from responding to outbreaks of crime
‘It’s like having a button that makes the audience go nuts’: Deep Purple on Smoke on the Water
‘We went to see Frank Zappa at Montreux casino. But someone fired a flare gun into the ceiling and – whoosh! The whole building went up in flames’We wanted a more exciting sound than we had been getting in conventional recording studios, so hired the Rolling Stones’ mobile studio for three weeks to record in the Montreux casino. It was 1971 and the night before we were due to begin, we went to see Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention play in the casino as part of the Montreux jazz festival, but – as the song puts it – “some stupid with a flare gun” fired into the ceiling.Sparks came down and everyone had to get out. I became separated from the band so went back inside to find them
There’s a lot more to lettuce than salad | Kitchen aide
José Pizarro’s recipe for sweetcorn, chorizo and piquillo pepper fritters
‘They’re not chic!’ How did BuzzBallz become the undisputed drink of the summer?
Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for charred corn salad with halloumi, broccoli and black beans | Quick and easy
Mitch Tonks’ sardine recipes, both fresh and tinned
The power of pulses: 15 easy, delicious ways to eat more life-changing legumes