The Metropolitan Police said crime reduced by 10.5% during the trial on Croydon’s high street, which took place from October 2025 to March 2026. There was also a 21% reduction in violence against women and girls.
Arrests included a woman, 36, who was wanted for failing to appear at court for an assault in 2004. Other arrests included people wanted for kidnap, rape and serious sexual assault.
The Met said the data showed LFR was a “powerful tool”, but campaign group Big Brother Watch called for “strict safeguards” for the technology.
This feels like we’re quickly approaching a scenario from a Black Mirror episode.
Jake Hurfurt, head of research and investigations at Big Brother Watch, said Croydon’s shoppers had been “treated like human guinea pigs” with “surveillance cameras that are rarely seen outside of authoritarian regimes”.
This. It’s portrayed in a positive light but the consequences of this level of intrusive policing can be devastating if it falls into the wrong hands or escalates.
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Now let’s see if they report the conviction rate.
My money’s on < 5.
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It is the single most indicative distinguishing trait of totalitarian regimes.
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Absolutely. And what’s worse is that most of the times when such measures are introduced it is to “protect the children”. So whenever you try to argue against this and other similar totalitarian actions they will tell you something along the lines of: “oh okay so you don’t care about the children”
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Very frustrating indeed. I dislike when people spin privacy concerns into making it look like you’re defending evil while that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
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I have to wonder if the general public even buys into that argumentation (because it seems to largely be an argument made by either governments or specific pressure groups), or rather that they feel powerless to do anything about it anyways.
Oh, sounds very proportionate…
The U.K. government are very fond of this, currently.
Online Safety Act (that does nothing for online safety”? “Children”.
Forcing Apple’s hand to stop ADP in the U.K.? “Children”.
The will to break e2ee? “Children”.
The only one they haven’t used “Children” for is ID cards - citing immigration. Which will do absolutely nothing for immigration, either.
The “general public” do, yes. They don’t mind being surveilled, quoting the typical “but I’ve got nothing to hide” nonsense that has been drummed into them by thick people and the U.K. government rhetoric.
I’d say this is less “general public” and more the minority who are alive to the insidious government methods. Very soon, the U.K. will be unrecognisable for its traditional principles dating back a significant period. It’s already a Nanny State. Cash will be gone, the gov will hold keys to your secrets, know what you’re spending and where, no privacy, no security and, well, basically a mini China.
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The imminent danger of this is just poor implementation and innocent people being flagged by the system.
The longer term danger is that even if current government officials are really trying to do the right thing, you are always one election away from malicious actors now having vast power to abuse.
We are, painfully, learning that lesson today in the United States.
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