Croydon businesses exhausted by crime ‘support’ Met’s facial recognition cameras
Businesses and market traders in Croydon have welcomed a Met police pilot project which will see the UK’s first permanent live facial recognition (LFR) cameras installed in the borough.
The cameras will be attached to lampposts or buildings and will only be switched on when officers are using the technology in the area, according to the Met.
The system cross-checks a live camera feed of faces against a database of known identities and custody images to make arrests.
Jose Joseph, who has run a fruit and veg stall in Croydon’s Surrey Street Market for 15 years, said: “I support the cameras coming into our town centre because it will reduce crime.
“It will help residents and customers feel safer.”
Market traders and shopkeepers have been calling on the council and police to cut crime rates which have blighted the area in recent months.
In April 2024, Rijkaard Salu Siafa was stabbed to death in Fellmongers Yard – an alleyway off Surrey Street. Three months later, in July, a shopkeeper was stabbed by two teenagers robbing his beauty shop.
Shopkeepers said businesses in the area are not only concerned by violence but also by rising levels of shoplifting.
Mr Joseph, who is the chair of the Croydon Town Centre Small Business Association, said: “Some people have raised concerns about these cameras making us unsafe.
“I totally disagree. Your neighbour’s, the roads, shops and transport networks all have CCTV, and people don’t worry about that. Without evidence the police can’t do much.
“This is for the safety of women and children, customers and residents.”
The Met’s use of LFR has come under fire from campaign groups like Big Brother Watch (BBW), which described the deployment of the technology as “dangerously authoritarian”.
The group has suggested its use can distance police from criticism and “encourage a lack of accountability”.
The Met said it has no current plans to expand the project to any other sites in London, and the Croydon pilot will be subject to a full evaluation.
If a member of the public walks past an LFR camera and is not wanted by the police, their biometrics are “immediately and permanently” deleted.
A spokeswoman from the Met said: “We are committed to making London safer, using data and technology to identify offenders that pose a risk to our communities.
“Last year we made over 500 arrests using LFR – removing dangerous individuals who were suspected of serious offences, including strangulation, stalking, domestic abuse and rape.”
Pictured top: Jose Joseph, chair of the Croydon Town Centre Small Business Association (Picture: Jose Joseph)