Cheshire Constabulary

Cheshire Constabulary runs retrospective facial recognition for investigations, using an in-house application built in 2024 inside its Niche crime management system. Officers and staff submit images, including CCTV stills, from mobile devices; matches are exported from the force's 'caught on camera' system and images are stored on NICE Investigate. The College of Policing practice page says the force's forensics department first developed the capability using Police National Database facial recognition, that it was trialled on historical case images in 2022, and that three staff were trained on FBI facial comparison technology. For June to August 2024 the force reports 873 cases reviewed and 126 suspects identified, with the successful match rate rising from 5 per cent at implementation to 12 per cent. The page says Cheshire has supported Greater Manchester Police, West Mercia Police and Derbyshire Constabulary. It names no commercial vendor and states no legal basis. The page describes retrospective use only; it does not describe live or handheld facial recognition. The page's 'first published' and start-date fields are blank, so the year given here is that of the in-house build. The page also says the force provides about £60,000 a year.