AUTOMATIC facial recognition could be used by Gwent Police in the future, the force have said.

Gwent Police have said that automatic facial recognition – which allows officers to load images of persons of interest and compare them against custody images to see if there is a possible match on identification – is not being used in Gwent at the moment.

A spokeswoman for the force said they are in consultation with South Wales Police about bringing this into the force for operational matters in the future.

Concerns have been raised about the technology, with human rights group Liberty saying it represents a violation of privacy.

Similar worries have been sparked about the use of body cameras worn by officers.

A spokeswoman for the force said: “The rollout of body worn videos throughout Gwent Police commenced in September 2015 and training took place for all officers with sessions running until February 2016.

“All officers are trained on the legislation and equipment before being permitted to use the body worn videos.

“There have been numerous incidents where body worn videos have helped with investigations and court cases.”

A spokeswoman for South Wales Police said, that in June this year, they successfully deployed Automated Facial Recognition (AFR) ‘Locate’ for the UEFA Champions League week in Cardiff.

She said: “We were the first force in the UK to have a positive match using AFR LOCATE, leading to the arrest of a 34-year-old man wanted on a recall to prison.

“In August, South Wales Police went live with Automated Facial Recognition (AFR) ‘Identify’ which uses a static face search capability.

“ AFR Identity allows officers to load images of persons of interest and compare them against our 500,000 custody images to see if there is a possible match on identification.”

She said that, throughout the trial, South Wales Police has been very “cognizant” of concerns about privacy and that they have built in checks and balances into their methodology to make sure their approach is “justified and balanced”.