This differs from both fixed live facial recognition (cameras mounted on vans or poles at a known location) and handheld operator-initiated facial recognition (a device the officer deliberately points at one person). A facial-recognition-enabled body camera runs continuously while recording, checking every face that passes in front of it against a watchlist wherever the officer happens to be patrolling, which extends watch-list checks across an officer's entire beat rather than confining them to fixed locations or deliberate individual scans.

The clearest documented case is Edmonton Police Service's trial, run in December 2025 and into January 2026, using Axon body cameras paired with a facial recognition model from Corsight AI, an Israeli company. See the tracker for the full account, including the scale of the watchlist involved and the concerns independent researchers have raised.

Axon's own AI ethics board recommended against pursuing facial recognition on body cameras in 2019, citing accuracy and bias concerns and the risk of normalising continuous biometric surveillance. Axon's 2025 partnership with Corsight marks a departure from that position, and the company has described current trials as early-stage field research rather than a product launch.