{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0355","record_version":1,"title":"UK police forces lobbied to keep a biased facial recognition system","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":44.5,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":4.16,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: The Guardian · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: The Guardian · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"b673be137c753f8bc8ae75770e263c66f19456fccf8253e01b1ca5a43311db5d"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"retrospective facial recognition searches comparing a probe image of a suspect against custody photos","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2025-12-10","incident_class":"bias_disparate_impact","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":false,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"UK police forces use the Police National Database to run retrospective facial recognition searches, comparing a probe image of a suspect against more than 19 million custody photos for potential matches. A review by the National Physical Laboratory, commissioned by the Home Office, found the system misidentified Black and Asian people and women at significantly higher rates than white men. In September 2024 police bosses were told of the bias, and the National Police Chiefs’ Council ordered a higher confidence threshold that significantly reduced it. That decision was reversed the following month after forces complained the system was producing fewer investigative leads. The Home Office has said it acted on the findings and that a new algorithm has been independently tested and procured. Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman said safeguards were reissued through training and guidance to PND users.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK16"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"moderate","severity_because":"Moderate test met: data of others (custody photos) searched, with bounded scope stated as a limited set of circumstances; no affected count stated","harm_class":["discriminatory"],"affected_description":"women, young people, and members of ethnic minority groups","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/10/police-facial-recognition-technology-bias","publisher":"The Guardian","date":"2025-12-10","type":"press","title":"UK police forces lobbied to use biased facial recognition technology - The Guardian","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.intended_use":"C","event.agent_involved":"C","event.incident_class":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","context.industry":"C","context.country":"C","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"UK forces use the police national database (PND) to conduct retrospective facial recognition searches, whereby a “probe image” of a suspect is compared to a database of more than 19 million custody photos for potential matches."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"UK forces use the police national database (PND) to conduct retrospective facial recognition searches, whereby a “probe image” of a suspect is compared to a database of more than 19 million custody photos for potential matches."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The Home Office admitted last week that the technology was biased, after a review by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) found it misidentified Black and Asian people and women at significantly higher rates than white men, and said it “had acted on the findings”."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Police forces successfully lobbied to use a facial recognition system known to be biased against women, young people, and members of ethnic minority groups, after complaining that another version produced fewer potential suspects."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Police forces successfully lobbied to use a facial recognition system known to be biased against women, young people, and members of ethnic minority groups, after complaining that another version produced fewer potential suspects."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"UK forces use the police national database (PND) to conduct retrospective facial recognition searches, whereby a “probe image” of a suspect is compared to a database of more than 19 million custody photos for potential matches."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"UK forces use the police national database (PND) to conduct retrospective facial recognition searches, whereby a “probe image” of a suspect is compared to a database of more than 19 million custody photos for potential matches."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The testing identified that in a limited set of circumstances the algorithm is more likely to incorrectly include some demographic groups in its search results."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The testing identified that in a limited set of circumstances the algorithm is more likely to incorrectly include some demographic groups in its search results."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"UK forces use the police national database (PND) to conduct retrospective facial recognition searches, whereby a “probe image” of a suspect is compared to a database of more than 19 million custody photos for potential matches."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The Home Office admitted last week that the technology was biased, after a review by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) found it misidentified Black and Asian people and women at significantly higher rates than white men, and said it “had acted on the findings”."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Police bosses were told the system was biased in September 2024, after a Home Office-commissioned review by the NPL found the system was more likely to suggest incorrect matches for probe images depicting women, Black people, and those aged 40 and under."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"That decision was reversed the following month after forces complained the system was producing fewer “investigative leads”."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"A new algorithm has been independently tested and procured, which has no statistically significant bias."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Following the identification of bias, we reissued and promoted training and guidance to Police National Database (PND) users to ensure all existing safeguards were used to reduce the risk of incorrect image returns informing operational decisions."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source (The Guardian, with Liberty Investigates documents). Not stated: model name, version, developer, autonomy, date of occurrence, root cause, number of people affected, exact thresholds, and the current threshold. The date_disclosed uses the article date 2025-12-10 as the first public report; this is a judgement. The reversal month is recorded as the stated phrase 'the following month' rather than computed. No autonomous agent is described, so agent_involved is false and no failure class is given. Severity is judged moderate because custody photos of others are searched within a stated limited set of circumstances; no affected-party count is stated and the 19 million figure is database size, not affected parties. The Home Office and NPCC claims of human review and safeguards are reported as claims and are not verified. Responsible party and root cause were left out as not stated. The Home Office's new algorithm test was scheduled for early next year and its result is not reported. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: The Guardian · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":"law enforcement","org_size_band":null,"country":"GB","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Police forces ran retrospective facial recognition searches on the Police National Database, comparing suspect images against more than 19 million custody photos.","quote":"UK forces use the police national database (PND) to conduct retrospective facial recognition searches, whereby a “probe image” of a suspect is compared to a database of more than 19 million custody photos for potential matches.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/10/police-facial-recognition-technology-bias"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Police bosses were told the system was biased.","quote":"Police bosses were told the system was biased in September 2024, after a Home Office-commissioned review by the NPL found the system was more likely to suggest incorrect matches for probe images depicting women, Black people, and those aged 40 and under.","source_index":0,"when":"September 2024"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/10/police-facial-recognition-technology-bias"]}}