Oxford Street tourists ‘to be monitored by facial recognition cameras’

• Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has indicated that the newly pedestrianised Oxford Street will be monitored by permanent live facial recognition cameras.
• The scheme would mark one of the UK's first permanent deployments of live facial recognition, using fixed cameras on street infrastructure rather than mobile vans.
• Human rights organisations including Liberty and Big Brother Watch heavily criticised the plan, describing it as an intrusive escalation in routine public surveillance.
• Scotland Yard aims to deploy static systems across the West End and Soho to target high-crime areas, following rollouts at London Tube stations and in Croydon.
• The Metropolitan Police and City Hall defended the technology as a key tool to tackle crime, noting it has led to more than 2,000 arrests since early 2024.

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Oxford Street shoppers to have faces scanned by controversial technology