Bath will host Avon and Somerset Police's first live facial recognition deployment on 25 November. Here is how the cameras work, what happens to your face and how to avoid them.

Bath will be the first place in Avon and Somerset where police use live facial recognition cameras. The first deployment is planned for Wednesday 25 November.

The force announced it on 5 November. It said the date is “subject to final operational authorisation” and that the timings and the exact area will be published in advance (Avon and Somerset Police, 5 November 2026).

The first day will use South Wales Police equipment and staff expertise. South Wales Police has been using the technology on operations “for some time”, the force said. Avon and Somerset officers will work alongside them and talk to the public on the day.

How it works

Cameras on a marked police vehicle scan the face of everyone who walks through a marked area, which the force calls the Zone of Recognition. Each face is compared in real time against a watchlist drawn up for that one deployment.

According to the force’s live facial recognition page:

  • if your face does not match anyone on the watchlist, the data made from it is deleted automatically, in under a second
  • if the system flags a possible match, a trained officer looks at the alert and decides whether it is genuine, and whether to speak to the person
  • the system makes no decisions itself
  • images linked to an alert are kept for no more than 24 hours, and are usually deleted at the end of the deployment
  • the watchlist is deleted within 24 hours
  • CCTV footage from the day is deleted within 31 days, unless it is needed for an investigation or a complaint
  • biometric data is not shared with third parties

The cameras will process the faces of children as well as adults, the force says, because the system cannot leave anyone out of the first comparison.

Who can be on the watchlist

Watchlists are built for each deployment. The force says people can only be added if they are:

  • wanted by the courts
  • suspected of an offence
  • on bail conditions or a court order
  • missing and at increased risk
  • judged to pose an immediate risk to life or of serious harm
  • the subject of credible intelligence that they are planning an offence

Children are added only in “very limited circumstances”, such as a high-risk missing child, and with extra sign-off.

The safeguards on paper

Each deployment needs authorisation from a superintendent or above. In an urgent case an inspector can authorise it, the force’s standard operating procedure says.

The same document sets the match threshold. It will normally be at or above 0.64, the setting at which no bias is detected in the algorithm the force uses. It can be lowered “based on the intelligence case”, with the reasons written down. The force has set a target of one false alert in every 1,000 faces.

After each deployment the force has to record, among other things, how many faces were scanned, how many alerts there were, how many were false and what happened next. It says it will publish outcomes “where operationally appropriate”.

Independent testing by the National Physical Laboratory found no statistically significant difference in performance by race or gender at the recommended settings, the force says.

Who is watching the police

Police and Crime Commissioner Clare Moody said she brought community leaders, academics and residents together before the announcement to shape how the technology is overseen.

In her statement she said she was “very aware of the longstanding concerns, particularly among our Black heritage and minoritised communities”. Her office will:

  • be told about planned deployments in advance
  • send its volunteer Independent Scrutiny of Police Powers Panel to review each deployment afterwards, including officers’ body-worn video
  • take the panel’s findings to Chief Constable Sarah Crew at the regular Governance and Scrutiny Board

The force’s operational lead, Inspector Stuart King, said: “Used appropriately, Live Facial Recognition has the potential to help us locate wanted individuals more quickly, safeguard vulnerable people and prevent harm.”

What it means for you

If you are in Bath on 25 November, you may walk past the cameras. The force says:

  • every deployment is signposted, with signs placed before the camera zone, marked vehicles and officers on hand to answer questions
  • you do not have to walk through the zone, and where practical there will be another route
  • covering your face or avoiding the camera is not, on its own, a reason for police to stop you

The force also says that in “rare cases” a deployment may not be announced in advance, for example when someone wanted for a serious crime is expected at a place. It would still be signposted on the day.

The technology will not be used routinely at protests, places of worship, schools or hospitals.

We will add the time and place of the Bath deployment here once the force publishes them.