A LIVE facial recognition van is being deployed for the first time in Cornwall around Newquay town centre to coincide with Boardmasters.

The high-tech vehicle features two high-definition 360-degree cameras, and the technology converts facial features from live video feeds into a biometric template that is compared against a specific watchlist in real time.

The use of the technology is highly controversial and remains the subject of intense political, legal, and public debate. The dispute centres on balancing public safety with civil liberties as the UK government expands the fleet of active scanning vans across England and Wales.

Critics including human rights organisations argue that scanning tens of thousands of ordinary people in public areas amounts to suspicionless mass surveillance. There is no specific, dedicated legislation passed by parliament governing live facial recognition. Police operate the technology under broad common law powers, which critics argue lacks sufficient legal safeguards and democratic oversight.

But police forces, including Devon and Cornwall Police, strongly defend the use of the vans by highlighting they can be deployed to catch serious offenders as well as locate missing or vulnerable individuals.

Authorities emphasise that any scan that does not yield a match is instantly and automatically deleted. Law enforcement asserts that the technology does not independently execute arrests. An officer must visually review the match before conducting a stop, acting as a mandatory safeguard against automated errors.

Chief Inspector Peter Shabytah stated the live facial recognition van is being deployed in Newquay town centre between Thursday and Saturday primarily to combat antisocial behaviour and business crime.

Ch Insp Shabytah said: “In principle we will publish where we will be seven days in advance. When we do deploy the signage around the van and people cross the live zone the recognition camera captures an image of their face. It carries out biometric measurements of your face and compares that with a database, which is a watch list. These people are wanted by the police and the courts or there is an intelligence interest.

“If the technology matches the biometrics, then a police officer will then speak with that person, and the outcome will depend on why there has been a match. The person could be arrested if there is an outstanding warrant, dispersed from the area or searched. If the biometrics are not matched, then the biometrics are deleted. We will have no record of the person scanned.

“That’s important because some people think they will be put into a database for future policing but that’s not what it is doing.

Newquay Inspector Steve Johnson said: “Newquay has been through difficult times in the past and this time of year the population quadruples and then. When you add Boardmasters the footfall in the town centre drastically increases therefore public safety is our priority.

“The live facial recognition capability van is another policing tactic and something we wanted to use in Newquay to demonstrate our commitment to public confidence.”