More than half of the British public do not feel comfortable with police forces sharing biometric data with the private sector, including facial recognition images, to tackle crimes such as shoplifting

More than half of the British public are worried about the sharing of biometric data, such as facial recognition, between police and the private sector, according to research from the Alan Turing Institute (ATI), with many expressing concern that a lack of transparency will lead to abuses.

The research, conducted alongside the Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS), revealed that 57% of the UK public are uncomfortable with biometric data sharing schemes between police forces and the private sector to prevent crimes like shoplifting.

The ATI said while some members of the public believed they would be more comfortable with the data sharing if there were appropriate transparency, oversight and accountability mechanisms in place, others said they would only feel comfortable if data sharing was a one-way process from commercial entities to the police – and not the other way round.