{
  "record": {
    "id": "0ddcc990-eabc-4e87-b71b-ccb5a358144f",
    "code": "PAI-0DDCC990",
    "force": "Merseyside Police",
    "country": "United Kingdom",
    "country_code": "uk",
    "is_country": true,
    "region": "Merseyside",
    "technology": "Operator-initiated (handheld) facial recognition",
    "technology_slug": "oifr",
    "vendor": "",
    "vendor_slug": "",
    "programme": "",
    "status": "trial",
    "stage": "in-use",
    "evidence": "journalism",
    "evidence_is_claim": false,
    "since": "",
    "legal_basis": "",
    "oversight": "",
    "notes": "Liberty Investigates and The Times reported on 5 May 2026 that Merseyside Police is one of several forces to give officers access to operator-initiated facial recognition (OIFR) on handheld devices. The force told them it used OIFR on 125 officers' phones in one pilot area in November, and that it is used to identify people \"where a legitimate policing purpose exists\" and \"only when other reasonable methods of identification have been exhausted\". Force documents quoted in the article describe OIFR as \"a valuable policing tool\" supporting its common law policing duties. The article does not name a supplier or give a start date or the year of the November pilot. The Home Office factsheet of December 2025 lists only South Wales Police and Gwent Police as using OIFR.",
    "source": "Liberty Investigates and The Times, 5 May 2026",
    "source_url": "https://libertyinvestigates.org.uk/?p=1028",
    "last_checked": "2026-11-05",
    "record_url": "https://www.policeainews.com/tracker/record/0ddcc990-eabc-4e87-b71b-ccb5a358144f"
  },
  "licence": "https://www.policeainews.com/data#licence"
}