01
CCTV REFERENCE EVIDENCE
13.40 cameras / 1k
130,000 reported cameras in London. The study uses 2025 London population estimates; borough data use mixed population vintages.
Open CCTV sourceTHE EVIDENCE STACK
Seven records
Different claims
Every measure has its own source, date, and scope. The country profile keeps them distinct by design.
FACE / BIOMETRIC
Documented active use
13 police forces using or having used LFR · 2025-11
The Home Office says live facial recognition compares live public-place video with police watchlists and that 13 forces had used or were using it as of November 2025.
AI USE SCOPE
Facial identification
2025-11 · High confidence
The Home Office describes live facial recognition against police watchlists, with time-bound and geographic deployment limits and officer review after any alert.
The record describes documented policing practice and stated safeguards; it does not assess compliance or account for all public-authority uses.
UK Home Office · facial recognition factsheetPRIVATE-CAMERA LINK
Documented footage-request programme
Thames Valley Police example · 2026-08
The voluntary Thames Valley Police camera portal lets businesses register cameras so police may request footage; owners submit footage themselves and police do not gain system access.
SAFEGUARDS CONTEXT
82.8 / 100
WJP 2025 Factor 4.6: protection from arbitrary interference with privacy in practice. The score changed -0.2 points from 2024.
Open WJP sourceSUPPLIER / PROCUREMENT
Documented record
NEC Software Solutions UK, Digital Barriers Services, and Bedroq
National framework for Live Facial Recognition Software, defined as comparison of live camera feeds against predetermined watchlists.
A framework makes suppliers available to buyers; it is not itself a map of all operational deployments.
Find a Tender — BLC0168 Live Facial Recognition frameworkINCIDENTS & REDRESS
Official finding
11 Aug 2020 · South Wales · AFR Locate trials in public places
Bridges v South Wales Police
The Court of Appeal considered South Wales Police’s live automated facial-recognition deployments and found aspects of the framework unlawful, including the data-protection impact assessment and public-sector equality duty.
The record is limited to the court’s findings about South Wales Police’s stated system and period of use.
England and Wales Court of Appeal · BAILII Open incidents & redressDATA INFRASTRUCTURE & JURISDICTION
Where data may sit, and what can govern it
These are separate contextual records. Data-centre capacity is not evidence of surveillance access; legal powers are not evidence of their use.
CONTEXT, NOT PROOF
Data residency is workload-specific and legal access requires separate procedural analysis; no surveillance-data hosting conclusion is drawn.
High confidenceCritical national infrastructure context
2026
Government identifies data centres as critical national infrastructure and proposes resilience duties for defined operators. The record does not use a capacity total.
Safeguarded international transfers
2025
UK GDPR governs personal-data transfers; some public-sector workloads apply location requirements. This is not a blanket UK-only hosting rule.
Cloud First and G-Cloud framework
2025
Government publishes its Cloud First approach and procurement frameworks; this does not name hosting arrangements for any surveillance system.
Statutory provider powers
2024
Investigatory Powers legislation provides powers and oversight mechanisms involving communications providers. Legal authority is not evidence of access to CCTV records.
SOURCE HISTORY
When the record changed.
The timeline preserves source vintages and review dates so changes can be examined rather than announced without a record.
- 2024
- 2025-06CCTV evidence source
London: 130,000 reported cameras; 13.40 per 1,000 people in the documented reference place.
Open source - 2025
- 2025-11Facial-recognition record
The Home Office says live facial recognition compares live public-place video with police watchlists and that 13 forces had used or were using it as of November 2025.
Open source - 2026-08Camera-integration record
The voluntary Thames Valley Police camera portal lets businesses register cameras so police may request footage; owners submit footage themselves and police do not gain system access.
Open source - 2025-11AI use-scope record
Facial identification · Live public space · Automated alert. The Home Office describes live facial recognition against police watchlists, with time-bound and geographic deployment limits and officer review after any alert.
Open source - 2025-04Supplier / procurement record
National framework for Live Facial Recognition Software, defined as comparison of live camera feeds against predetermined watchlists.
Open source - 2026Data-infrastructure context
Government identifies data centres as critical national infrastructure and proposes resilience duties for defined operators. The record does not use a capacity total.
Open source - 2024Lawful-access context
Investigatory Powers legislation provides powers and oversight mechanisms involving communications providers. Legal authority is not evidence of access to CCTV records.
Open source - 11 Aug 2020Incident / redress record
Official finding: The Court of Appeal considered South Wales Police’s live automated facial-recognition deployments and found aspects of the framework unlawful, including the data-protection impact assessment and public-sector equality duty.
Open source - 2026-08Layer evidence review
Record category: Paired layer record. This version preserves gaps rather than treating them as evidence of absence.
No comparable public source located in this review
REVIEWED PUBLIC UPDATES
Accepted additions and corrections.
Community submissions remain private until an editor checks the source, scope, and status. Only accepted changes appear here.
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