Scottish biometrics commissioner renews live facial recognition call

Scotland’s biometrics commissioner has renewed his call for MSPs to legislate on live facial recognition (LFR) technology.

Police Scotland has not adopted the crimefighting and surveillance tech, but other UK policing bodies working in Scotland, like British Transport Police, have access to it.

In his latest annual report, Dr Brian Plastow warns that the absence of Scottish legislation governing use of LFR means that if any UK policing bodies opt to use LFR in Scotland, it would not come under his oversight.

He said: “None of these UK policing bodies fall within the jurisdiction of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act 2020, and no tangible progress has been made by Scottish Government officials to align such policing activities in Scotland with the commissioner’s oversight.

“The UK Home Office is currently making live facial recognition technology available through a multi-million investment that will make it available to every police force in England and Wales.

“There is also commercial investment south of the border, such as the English Premier League providing £3.42m to the Metropolitan Police to trial it at top-flight football matches in London.

“My advice to the Scottish Parliament continues to be that Police Scotland should have proportionate and equitable access to such technologies in the future.

“This will be important in responding to the threats posed by serious and organised crime groups, for counterterrorism purposes, to address the UK-wide challenge of county lines drug dealing, and as part of a strategic policing response to the national emergency of male violence towards women and girls in Scotland.

“While I acknowledge the controversial nature of biometric-enabled public space surveillance, I would encourage Scottish ministers to bring forward primary legislation for its future use in Scotland to mirror similar proposals in England and Wales.”

While Scottish ministers have previously stated that any future deployment of LFR would be an operational matter for the chief constable, Plastow has argued that primary legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament is vital.

He said: “LFR technology is highly intrusive and constitutes mass public surveillance, so it is  my view that primary legislation is the best route to deliver safeguards capable of ensuring  both public acceptance and legitimacy.”

Plastow, who has held the post of Scottish biometrics commissioner since 2021, made the comments while launching his 2025-26 annual report.

As well as live facial recognition images, biometric data can include everything from fingerprints recovered at a crime scene to DNA to voice recordings and photographs taken in police custody.

However, Plastow can only provide scrutiny relating to the use of biometrics by Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), and the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc), and he has called for an extension of the role to cover the criminal justice system.

He said: “The functions of the Scottish biometrics commissioner do not extend to public or private space (non-police) surveillance cameras in Scotland, or to the regulation of forensic science techniques used for policing and criminal justice purposes.

“Unlike England and Wales, Scotland does not have a surveillance camera commissioner or a forensic science regulator.

“By no later than 30 November 2026, and as required by Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act, Scottish ministers must lay a report in parliament on whether my functions remain appropriate and whether any of the bodies to whom my functions extend should be added or removed.

“There is an opportunity for low-cost expansion of remit given that biometric data is shared extensively by criminal justice partners throughout the entire criminal justice ecosystem in Scotland, including in prisons.

“Given the inexorable rise of AI-enabled public space surveillance and the increasing complexity and connectivity of biometric data over agency boundaries – including through initiatives such as the digital evidence sharing capability – it seems illogical for independent oversight not to cover the agencies sharing biometric data within a criminal justice ecosystem that sits within the portfolio of a single cabinet secretary for justice.”