The police force debuted the Live Facial Recognition from the top of a police van parked in Oxford’s Cornmarket Street on December 22.
The technology is used as a precision crime-fighting tactic to locate people who are of interest to the police.
It helps the police force reduce violence and the risk of harm, prevent and detect crime, apprehend and prosecute offenders, protect the public, secure the administration of justice and maintain public confidence.
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It works by analysing key facial features and generating a mathematical representation of these features called a biometric template.
It then compares this template against the biometric templates of known faces in a database, generating possible matches.
During the debut, police officers made two arrests for stalking offences and a further arrest for domestic-related malicious communications, threats to kill and threats to commit criminal damage.
Two further people arranged voluntary interviews after being flagged by the camera van in Cornmarket Street; one for domestic-related malicious communications and another for a public order offence.
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The police force said the van will be back out in Oxford city centre on Wednesday, January 14.
A spokesperson for the police force said: “The vans will be clearly marked and our officers will be able to answer any questions.”
The police force said it recognises there is an ‘ongoing need to balance privacy and protection concerns, in addition to considering its legal and ethical implications’.
