UK to require migrants with criminal convictions to wear facial-recognition watches

The UK Home Office and the Ministry of Justice plan to require migrants with convictions to wear watches with facial-recognition functionality to monitor them. The Guardian reports.

Under the plan, the devices could take up to five photographs a day and transmit the data to law enforcement along with geolocation. It would apply only to foreign nationals convicted of a criminal offence.

Authorities urged daily monitoring of those subject to immigration control. They proposed that all such arrivals to the United Kingdom wear ankle bracelets or smart watches on a permanent basis.

The government awarded a £6 million contract to Buddi Limited in May 2022. The company developed a bracelet for monitoring elderly people at risk of falls. It is likely the same firm will be tasked with developing a device for law enforcement capable of taking photographs for subsequent scanning.

Lawyers criticised the proposals. According to Monisha Bhatt, criminology lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London, the Home Office itself does not yet know how long people will remain under surveillance.

“They have provided no evidence showing the necessity of electronic monitoring, or demonstrated that the tags compel people to comply more diligently with immigration laws. We need humane, non-demeaning, community-level solutions,” he said.

In July, Britain’s police began testing a roadside van to detect driver offences.

In the same month, rights groups called for to ban facial recognition of shoppers in supermarkets in the south of England.

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