THE Met Police yesterday (Thursday) unveiled a plan to double the use of live facial recognition technology and expand its new team of officers in the West End.

The new focus of resources is part of a cost-cutting drive that is leading to the loss of hundreds of officers across the capital.

The restructure is seeing officers assigned to areas classed as crime hotspots – 80 officers are being added to the team in the West End.

But while the West End team is being boosted by 50 per cent, there are 1,700 officers and staff being axed across the capital. As part of the changes there will be a “scaling up” of live facial recognition that will run five days a week instead of two. The tech will be used at the Notting Hill Carnival in August for the first time.

Charlie Whelton, from the civil rights group Liberty, said: “Any tech which has the potential to infringe on our rights in the way scanning and identifying millions of people does needs to have robust safeguards around its use, including ensuring that proper independent oversight is in place.”

He called on the government to introduce new laws on regulating its use.

Earlier this month the Met Police said there had been 1,000 arrests from live facial recognition to date, of which 773 had led to charge or caution.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “There are a lot of wanted offenders out there, this helps us round them up.”

The shrinking Met is aiming to do more with less, he added.

He said: “The Met is getting smaller but more capable. We have a laser-like focus on ensuring our officers and staff are in roles where they can drive down crime on issues that matter the most to Londoners.”

At the announcement yesterday, the Met said that personal robbery in the West End was down by 20 per cent in the West End, and violent attacks.

It listed three recent arrests including three men who attempted a robbery at the O2 store in Tottenham Court Road on July 24.

A prolific shoplifter who repeatedly targeted the same board game store in the West End was jailed on July 24, the Met said. Omar Innis was spotted carrying £1,300 worth of board games near Leicester Square on July 25.

Zenith Lawrence was convicted of stealing £9,000 worth of clothes from Free People, Peak Performance and Rain between February 2025 and March 2025.

He was jailed for 28 days and issued with a Criminal Behaviour Order that bans him from entering Westminster for three years.

Retailers have warned in recent weeks that high streets like Oxford Street were at risk without urgent national action on crime.

The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, said he recognised that Londoners wanted to see more “bobbies on the beat” and acknowledged he was concerned about “reputational damage” to the West End from crime.