{
  "record": {
    "id": "0cd49fb13c3a7dc7",
    "code": "PAI-0CD49FB1",
    "force": "Home Office",
    "country": "United Kingdom",
    "country_code": "uk",
    "is_country": true,
    "region": "United Kingdom",
    "technology": "Retrospective Facial Recognition (PND search)",
    "technology_slug": "retrospective-fr-pnd",
    "vendor": "Cognitec (FaceVACS-DBScan ID), among others",
    "vendor_slug": "cognitec",
    "programme": "Police National Database facial search",
    "status": "operational",
    "stage": "in-use",
    "evidence": "regulator",
    "evidence_is_claim": false,
    "since": "2014",
    "legal_basis": "The Crime and Policing Act 2026 (Royal Assent 29 April 2026), section 181, creates an authorised person gateway for police access to DVLA driver records including the photograph, via the Law Enforcement Data Service, expanding access beyond road traffic matters.",
    "oversight": "Biometrics Commissioner; ICO, which reported a bias finding and is monitoring a planned algorithm replacement; subject of long-running custody image retention criticism",
    "notes": "The Home Office states the Act does not itself create a process for searching the DVLA image gallery to identify unknown individuals, and that which non-police galleries may be searched is deferred to a forthcoming Police Reform Bill.\n\nOver 25,000 retrospective facial recognition searches are run each month against a pool of more than 19 million custody images.\n\nThe statutory position changed in 2026 and any account citing only the absence of a framework is now stale. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 opened police access to DVLA driver records including photographs; the Lords rejected an amendment to block facial recognition searching of the roughly 50 million image DVLA database by 123 votes to 40 in March 2026. The substantive framework for which galleries may be searched has been deferred to a further bill.\n\nThe National Physical Laboratory published an accuracy and equitability evaluation of Cognitec FaceVACS-DBScan ID v5.5 in December 2025, and the ICO's 18 August 2026 statement is explicit about the finding: the algorithm's bias increases the likelihood of incorrect matches for people in some demographic groups. The Home Office and NPCC have put mitigations in place (staff training, oversight reporting, equality impact assessments) alongside plans to replace the algorithm. The ICO continues to engage with HMICFRS, the Home Office and NPCC on the replacement and is reserving the right to take further regulatory action if warranted.\n\nA Home Office consultation on the facial recognition framework closed on 12 February 2026 with a government response promised within 12 weeks. That response remained unpublished more than three months past its due date as of August 2026; a July 2026 Lords session shows the Home Secretary being directly pressed on the delay.\n\nRecorded as one body: the Home Office provides the Police National Database facial search that forces use. Forces with their own retrospective facial recognition systems are recorded separately.",
    "source": "Biometrics Commissioner annual reports",
    "source_url": "https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2026/08/facial-recognition-in-policing/",
    "last_checked": "2026-10-31",
    "record_url": "https://www.policeainews.com/tracker/record/0cd49fb13c3a7dc7"
  },
  "licence": "https://www.policeainews.com/data#licence"
}