The Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has announced the government’s plans to establish a “national capability” to address violent disorder following racist riots across England. However, concerns have been raised by campaigners and civil society groups regarding the surveillance implications and impact on wider civil liberties of this initiative.
The National Violent Disorder Programme will bring together policing capabilities from across the UK to share intelligence on violent groups and intervene swiftly to make arrests. The programme was announced in response to far-right riots targeting mosques, asylum seeker housing, immigration centers, and people of color in multiple towns and cities.
Starmer emphasized the need for a national police response to tackle the mobile nature of violent groups and mentioned the use of shared intelligence, facial-recognition technology, and preventive action. The government’s press release detailed plans to use local insight and data to understand far-right organizers’ operations nationally and deploy facial-recognition technology more widely to target criminals quickly.
While Home Secretary Yvette Cooper expressed support for the programme and ensuring community safety, concerns were raised by civil society groups about the potential misuse of facial-recognition surveillance and its impact on civil liberties. Campaigners warned about the program targeting anti-fascist groups and criticized the government’s approach to facial recognition technology.
The ongoing concerns over police technology include the effectiveness of facial recognition for crime prevention, oversight of biometric technologies, and the retention of biometric data by police forces. Previous warnings about the dangers of slipping into an overly surveillance state and the discriminatory outcomes of predictive policing were highlighted. Civil society groups have urged Starmer to address these concerns and uphold civil liberties amidst the fight against violent disorder.