Report Summary
This report provides members of the Scottish Police Authority Policing Performance Committee with an overview of the work conducted as part of the Police Scotland, Scottish Police Authority and Scottish Biometrics Commissioner’s National Conversation on Live Facial Recognition.
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Note: This was updated on 15 July 2025 to include accessible versions of Appendices A, B, and C.
Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Policing Performance Committee - 10 June 2025
Date : 10 June 2025
Location : online
National Conversation on Live Facial Recognition
The tripartite approach comprised of Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner. It is important to note that whilst these organisations collaborated to explore public sentiment, their roles and responsibilities remained clearly delineated as set out below:
Police Scotland’s focus was to listen, consider and reach a decision on any future use of LFR by the service.
The Scottish Police Authority worked alongside Police Scotland to provide support and challenge, aligned to their statutory responsibility ‘to ensure the continuous improvement of policing’. This advocacy helps ensure the voices of the Scottish public are part of the process, that the process is transparent and that it maintains or enhances public trust and confidence in policing.
The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner participated to help inform the conversation with a view to ensuring regulatory compliance with the Code of Practice and the law.
All three partners were involved in various workstreams of the National Conversation.
