WA Police live facial recognition trial has scanned 131,000 faces and led to 19 arrests, sparking privacy backlash

Since Western Australia Police launched Australia's first live facial recognition mobile trial on June 22 using NEC NeoFace, the system has scanned more than 131,000 faces, generated 33 alerts and contributed to 19 arrests. The state's Office of the Information Commissioner says it was never invited into the trial's design, and the primary Information Privacy Principles under the state's PRIS Act only came into force nine days after the trial began.