UK Unveils 'British FBI' Plan with Nationwide Facial Recognition

The UK government has unveiled plans to create a new National Police Service (NPS) modeled on the FBI, alongside a nationwide rollout of facial recognition cameras, marking one of the most significant police reforms in British history.

The 'British FBI' Proposal

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the creation of the National Police Service in Parliament on January 26, describing it as a "British FBI" that would take over the fight against terrorism and organized crime. The NPS would replace the National Crime Agency, which currently covers England and Wales, while maintaining a UK-wide role.

The proposed structure represents a fundamental shift in British policing, with the existing 43 police constabularies in England and Wales being reorganized into just 12 regional forces. Mahmood argued this consolidation would make policing more cost-efficient and better equipped to handle modern criminal threats that operate across borders and online.

Massive Investment in AI and Surveillance

The Home Office published a 106-page white paper detailing the new police structure, including plans to invest £115 million ($157 million) over three years to enable "rapid and responsible adoption of artificial intelligence and automation technologies by the police." A new National Centre for AI in Policing, called Police.AI, would be established to oversee this technological transformation.

Perhaps most controversially, the government announced plans to roll out facial recognition cameras nationwide. The number of facial recognition camera vehicles would increase from 10 to 50, allowing police to scan crowds and match faces against watchlists of wanted criminals.

"A hundred years ago, fingerprinting was decried as curtailing our civil liberties, but today we could not imagine policing without it," Mahmood said. "I have no doubt that the same will prove true of facial recognition technology in the years to come."

Privacy Concerns and Civil Liberties

The expansion of facial recognition technology has drawn criticism from privacy advocates. Earlier in January, Eleanor "Nell" Watson, a leading researcher and adviser on AI ethics and transparency, warned about the implications of increased surveillance.

"The UK is constructing infrastructure for a surveillance society while telling itself it is merely catching criminals," Watson told The Epoch Times via email.

The white paper acknowledges that there is currently no dedicated statute governing police use of facial recognition in England and Wales, raising questions about the legal framework for this expanded surveillance capability.

Political Opposition and Regional Concerns

The opposition Conservative Party's shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, criticized the plan to reduce the number of police forces from 43 to 12, arguing it would create "mega-forces" that would be too remote from the communities they serve.

"Such huge forces will be remote from the communities they serve," Philp said. "Resources will be drawn away from villages and towns towards large cities."

He pointed to the Metropolitan Police, the UK's largest force, which has the worst crime-solving rates, suggesting that larger scale doesn't automatically deliver better results.

Scottish National Party MP Pete Wishart raised concerns about the "British FBI" branding, noting that the proposal only applies to England and Wales. "While it might indeed be their FBI, British it most definitely is not," Wishart said, demanding to know what powers the NPS would have in Scotland.

Mahmood responded that the NPS would cover the whole of the UK, with full operational powers in England and Wales, but would only carry out operations in Scotland and Northern Ireland with the agreement of the legally designated authority.

Context and Rationale

The government argues that the current police structure, established in 1974, is no longer fit for purpose in an era of sophisticated online crime, cross-border criminal networks, and evolving threats.

"Criminals are operating online and across borders with greater sophistication than ever before, be they drug smugglers, people traffickers or child sexual abusers," Mahmood said. "The world has changed dramatically since policing was last fundamentally reformed over 50 years ago. Policing remains the last great unreformed public service."

She cited statistics showing theft has risen by 72 percent since 2010, with phone theft up 58 percent, arguing that communities are facing an "epidemic of everyday crime that all too often seems to go unpunished."

Despite these challenges, Mahmood defended the current police performance, noting that officers made over three-quarters of a million arrests last year, a 5 percent increase from the previous year. She also pointed to declining knife crime and murder rates in London at their lowest recorded level.

The proposal represents a significant shift in British law enforcement philosophy, moving toward a more centralized, technology-driven model similar to the American FBI. Whether this approach will deliver the promised improvements in efficiency and crime-fighting capability, or create the "remote mega-forces" critics fear, remains to be seen as the plan moves through the legislative process.