A man whose criminal offence dates back nearly a decade says he was stopped by police after AI facial recognition cameras allegedly identified him while he walked through the city.
Western Australia Police have been testing the facial recognition software across selected locations in Perth and Fremantle since June.
The rollout of the AI-powered technology has drawn strong backlash from Australians concerned it could pave the way for what critics describe as a “mass surveillance state”.
Those privacy fears were again thrust into the spotlight on Friday, when independent journalist Jesse Noakes recorded police approaching and surrounding a man in the street.
The man, who was not identified, had been walking in Perth’s CBD when officers stopped him.
“My face got recognised in the system as a person who does have a criminal record,” he told Mr Noakes.
“It’s been almost 10 years at this point, so I’m kind of used to it.”
Although the officers did not charge him and he said he was not distressed by the encounter, the man questioned why the cameras had flagged him when there was no warrant out for his arrest.
WA Police have been trialling facial recognition cameras in Perth and Fremantle since June
“It doesn’t matter if they’ve got a warrant or what, they’re still keeping tabs on me,” he said.
‘I wasn’t in custody at that moment – they didn’t have me under arrest or anything.’
The confronting video received thousands of comments from Australians, many who said the new cameras used this way by police was ‘creepy’ and ‘dystopian’.
‘Why are we having police chase some poor guy down who did something 10 years ago?’ one wrote.
‘Harassing people not committing a crime because of a crime 10 years ago, when they’ve been held accountable, seems like a complete waste of resources,’ another said.
‘They stopped a man just because he had a previous criminal record? What was the point of that?’ another wrote.
Facial recognition cameras powered by artificial intelligence are becoming more common across Australia.
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While WA Police were the first police force to adopt the technology, retailers have begun introducing the systems to combat theft.
It is not clear if the technology will be used in other parts of the country
The system scans Australians’ faces as they walk on the street and compares them to a watchlist of 4,000 flagged criminals
Bunnings won its fight to monitor customers using facial recognition technology at an Administrative Review Tribunal in February.
Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind in 2024 had claimed Bunnings breached Australians’ privacy with the cameras.
‘Facial recognition technology may have been an efficient and cost-effective option available to Bunnings at the time in its well-intentioned efforts to address unlawful activity, which included incidents of violence and aggression,’ she said at the time.
‘However, just because a technology may be helpful or convenient, does not mean its use is justifiable.
‘In this instance, deploying facial recognition technology was the most intrusive option, disproportionately interfering with the privacy of everyone who entered its stores, not just high-risk individuals.’
However, the tribunal in February ruled the cameras did not breach customers’ privacy so long as they were properly signposted.
Grocery giants Woolworths and Coles followed the announcement with their own trials of facial recognition cameras.
Both grocers announced in August they would test the technology in a bid to reduce in-store crime, but haven’t shared plans on permanently implementing it.
WA Police scanned 130,000 faces in the first week of the camera trial, resulting in 33 alerts and 18 arrests
Public information from WA Police showed the cameras scanned 130,000 faces around Perth and Fremantle within the first week of trialling.
The system compared those faces against a watchlist of about 4,000 people, resulting in 33 alerts and 18 arrests.
The Daily Mail has contacted WA Police for comment.