Cardiff residents have expressed broad support for additional facial recognition cameras being deployed during the Six Nations rugby championship.
South Wales Police have announced plans to deploy additional live facial recognition cameras across Cardiff city centre during this year’s Six Nations rugby championship.
Speaking to GB News, one person said: “I think as long as it’s there and it’s for the safety of everybody, if anything was to sort of happen, that they’ll be able to maybe zoom in to the culprits and things like that.”
A second said: “We are one of the most watched countries in the world, so it was going to happen eventually.
South Wales Police have announced plans to deploy additional live facial recognition cameras across Cardiff city
GB News
“There’s not a lot we can do about it unless we’re walking around with masks on, and that’s not going to go down very well, is it?”
A third said: “I’m okay because I try and keep the laws. And so yeah, not bothered by that.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
A fourth claimed: “I haven’t got a problem with that, to be honest.
“I think it’s a good thing the way the way things are going. Safety people as well you know. So yeah, I’m all for it.”
The tournament, which begins on February 22, is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to Cardiff’s stadiums, pubs and bars.
Five temporary cameras will be installed throughout the city centre in designated “Zones of Safety”.
The system will scan faces and compare them against a predetermined watchlist, according to police officials.
GB News
The system will scan faces and compare them against a predetermined watchlist, according to police officials.
The force says advertising the technology’s deployment is part of its strategy to both deter crime and maintain transparency with the public.
Responding to South Wales Police’s announcement that it will be installing the facial recognition cameras, Madeleine Stone, Senior Advocacy Officer at Big Brother Watch, said: “Embedding facial recognition surveillance in a city-wide CCTV network represents a shocking expansion of police surveillance, and turns Cardiff into an Orwellian zone of biometric surveillance. This unprecedented use of the technology could pave the way for the mass rollout of permanent facial recognition surveillance across the UK.
“Live facial recognition technology turns us into walking barcodes and makes us a nation of suspects. This network of facial recognition cameras will make it impossible for Cardiff residents and visitors to opt-out of a biometric police identity check.
The system helped identify members of an organised crime group
GB News
“For the last three years, South Wales Police has not made a single arrest due to use of this technology at sporting events, yet the force continues to waste taxpayers’ money on this rights-abusing technology. No other democracy in the world spies on its population with live facial recognition in this cavalier and chilling way. South Wales Police must immediately stop this dystopian trial.”
South Wales Police have previously demonstrated success with facial recognition technology during major events in Cardiff.
During a Beyoncé concert, the system helped identify members of an organised crime group known for stealing phones at music events.
One suspect was arrested after being matched through the watchlist.
The concert concluded with no reported mobile phone thefts.
