The use of facial recognition at a free festival this weekend has been met with a mixed response.
Suffolk Police is set to utilise Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology for the second time at the First Light Festival in Lowestoft in a bid to keep festivalgoers safe.
The force will borrow two vans and equipment from Bedfordshire Police in order to scan the faces of festivalgoers to match them with a database of people wanted for serious offences.
Chief Inspector Andy Pursehouse stressed the importance of the technology, saying: “This innovative technology can play a vital role in protecting people, keeping them safe, investigating crimes, and getting justice for victims.
"It also means we are saving time and effort for our officers, leaving them able to do other work to protect and help the public," he added.
Readers shared their views about the technology.
Shama O'Alexander, from Ipswich, said: "An absolute no from me. If they want to impose a surveillance state they should put on their leather trenchcoats and present it as what it is, rather than hiding behind vague appeals to 'public safety'.
"It amazes me that the public is so relaxed about this stuff, as though the entire oeuvre of dystopian fiction and the misuse of such technologies by governments never got written."
Luke Payne, from Ipswich, raised a separate concern about the necessity of this technology at a time when the police are tight on funding.
He said: "I didn't realise Lowestoft was that dangerous, can't imagine it's that bad to need the expense of this."
These concerns come after a national debate on police use of LFR technology as the Home Office revealed that the tech is “more likely to incorrectly include some demographic groups in its search results".
A study conducted by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) on police use of LFR tech showed that the software is more likely to incorrectly match black and Asian people to the 'wanted list' than their white counterparts.
However, despite these concerns, some Suffolk residents are pleased about the police's increased vigilance.
"Irrespective of opinion it's become necessary in today's society," said Jeff Long. "Unless you want paedophiles, rapists, murderers, thieves and violent thugs on our streets, like it or not it's the future of policing."
Darryl Chapman said he thought the proposed use of LFR tech is a "great idea", saying: "If you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about."
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The police have maintained that innocent people have no need to be concerned as the technology only checks faces against the specific profiles on the watch list, and all unmatched faces are deleted from the database.
Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore said: “I’m really pleased to see live facial recognition being used again at the First Light Festival.
"The technology was received very positively by the law-abiding attendees of last year’s festival, and the results speak for themselves. This technology has huge potential to bring criminals to justice and to prevent crime, which I trust is welcomed by everyone."
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