{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0764","record_version":1,"title":"British Transport Police live facial recognition trial produces one false identification","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":50.9,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":15.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":2.24,"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: Times of India group · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":2,"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: Times of India group · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"1d18eeba28fb320767448f06be428aa9d119a4970a21b7076de5438ce88ee317"},"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":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-10-01","incident_class":"other","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"human_review","summary":"British Transport Police ran a six-month live facial recognition trial at London railway stations, comparing passing faces with a police watchlist. The trial ran from February to July 2026 across 18 deployments. The system produced one alert against a person on the watchlist. Officers checked it and found the person was not the one sought, so the alert was classed as a false positive, and no arrest resulted directly from the technology. The force then extended the trial by four months and added London Underground stations. Sources differ on the number of faces scanned, with one giving more than 500,000 and another 530,000. Critics raised privacy and proportionality concerns.","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},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"moderate","harm_class":[],"affected_description":"More than 500,000 faces scanned across 18 deployments during the February to July 2026 trial, per one source","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/british-transport-police-spent-320786-testing-live-facial-recognition-at-london-stations-and-scanned-more-than-500000-faces-the-six-month-trial-produced-one-alert-and-that-person-was-wrongly-identified/articleshow/134598230.cms","publisher":"The Times of India","date":"2026-10-01","type":"press","title":"British Transport Police spent £320,786 testing live facial recognition at London stations and scanned mo - The Times of India","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"},{"url":"https://www.londondaily.news/rail-facial-recognition-pilot-scanned-530000-faces-but-produced-no-confirmed-match/","publisher":"London Daily News","date":"2026-10-01","type":"press","title":"Rail facial-recognition pilot scanned 530,000 faces but produced no confirmed match - London Daily News","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"event.detection_method":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Officers checked the result, but the individual was not the person sought."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"More than half a million faces were scanned during those operations, while officers and specialist equipment were positioned at 18 separate deployments."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"That alert turned out to be a false identification, with no arrest resulting directly from the technology during the trial period."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The trial ran between February and July 2026 and involved 18 deployments at some of London’s busiest transport hubs."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The trial ran between February and July 2026 and involved 18 deployments at some of London’s busiest transport hubs."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"That alert turned out to be a false identification, with no arrest resulting directly from the technology during the trial period."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Officers checked the result, but the individual was not the person sought."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"The police pilot began on 11 February and was extended in August for a further four months, taking it to November."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"BTP has since extended the programme, raising fresh questions about cost, accuracy, privacy and whether live facial recognition is proportionate for use across a public transport network."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Sources differ on faces scanned: source 0 says more than 500,000 and source 1 says more than 530,000; neither is confirmed, so no count is recorded as a value. The alert date is not stated, only the trial window. Cost is in GBP and no USD figure is given, so direct_loss_usd is left out. The almost 100 hours of officer time is not an exact number, so remediation_hours is left out. No developer, model or vendor is named, so system fields are left out. Country GB is a judgement from London being the location; context.country is not in any source as a stated country for this trial. Severity moderate is my judgement: a bounded scope (18 deployments, February to July 2026) with the data of many passengers touched. Harm class privacy reflects the biometric data processing, not a stated harm to an individual. The sources do not describe any autonomous agent, so failure and agent fields are omitted. The sources describe the extension's refined procedures and controlled watchlist growth, but do not tie them to named controls, so no remediation is recorded. The incident class other is my judgement, as no closed category fits a false facial-recognition match. [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: Times of India group · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","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":"went_wrong","text":"The system produced one watchlist alert, and it was a false identification.","quote":"That alert turned out to be a false identification, with no arrest resulting directly from the technology during the trial period.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"Officers checked the alert and found the person was not the one sought.","quote":"Officers checked the result, but the individual was not the person sought.","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://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/british-transport-police-spent-320786-testing-live-facial-recognition-at-london-stations-and-scanned-more-than-500000-faces-the-six-month-trial-produced-one-alert-and-that-person-was-wrongly-identified/articleshow/134598230.cms","https://www.londondaily.news/rail-facial-recognition-pilot-scanned-530000-faces-but-produced-no-confirmed-match/"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"The live facial recognition pilot began.","quote":"The police pilot began on 11 February and was extended in August for a further four months, taking it to November.","source_index":1,"when":"11 February"},{"text":"The six-month trial ran across 18 deployments at railway stations.","quote":"The trial ran between February and July 2026 and involved 18 deployments at some of London’s busiest transport hubs.","source_index":0,"when":"February 2026"},{"text":"The system produced one alert during the trial, and it was a false identification.","quote":"That alert turned out to be a false identification, with no arrest resulting directly from the technology during the trial period.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"The trial was extended for a further four months, adding London Underground stations.","quote":"The police pilot began on 11 February and was extended in August for a further four months, taking it to November.","source_index":1,"when":"August"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/british-transport-police-spent-320786-testing-live-facial-recognition-at-london-stations-and-scanned-more-than-500000-faces-the-six-month-trial-produced-one-alert-and-that-person-was-wrongly-identified/articleshow/134598230.cms","https://www.londondaily.news/rail-facial-recognition-pilot-scanned-530000-faces-but-produced-no-confirmed-match/"]}}