Greater Manchester Police have hailed the success of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) cameras after the technology led to the arrest of multiple registered sex offenders in just a few weeks. The force has deployed the cameras 23 times since October, with one in five of all arrests made involving individuals on the sex offenders register.
The cameras, mounted on police vans, scan faces for unique biometric data and instantly compare them against a watchlist of wanted offenders, alerting officers to any matches. They have been used in Manchester city centre, at the airport, and earlier this month outside Old Trafford during the derby between Manchester United and Manchester City – the first such use at a football match.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced on Monday that the vans would be made available to all forces in England and Wales as part of a wider policing shake-up, increasing the national fleet from 10 to 50. Defending the move against privacy concerns, she said: “There is no true liberty if people are too scared of crime to leave their homes.” She added that new technology could help pursue criminals while being used in line with British values.
Since deploying LFR, GMP have made 40 arrests, of which 30 have resulted in charges. In one operation, 43-year-old John Thompson from Manchester was caught in Piccadilly Gardens and charged with 36 offences, including 35 breaches of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and one breach of notification requirements. He remains in custody ahead of his next court appearance on 16 February 2026.
Other arrests include a man wanted for stalking, one for possession of indecent images, another for domestic offences, and a suspect wanted since May 2025 for firearms offences. Police also safeguarded a vulnerable man who had left an NHS facility. Sergeant Ryan Magee, from the Sexual Offenders Management Unit, said the technology had delivered “significant improvements in public protection”, enabling real-time identification and early intervention to prevent harm.
