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What is the legal basis for the use of Live Facial Recognition technology by police forces in England and Wales? There is no legislative basis that creates the police powers for the use of LFR. [...] The most detailed parliamentary examination of LFR, undertaken by the Science and Technology Committee in 2019, called for a stop to its use, citing concerns over the lack of legal framework.1 The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and South Wales Police (SWP) have stated that common law policing powers are a sufficient basis for their deployment of LFR, citing the Court of Appeal judgment in R (Br. [...] The Ryder Review, an independent legal review of the governance of biometric data in England and Wales, has argued that using existing sources of law “as the entry point for biometric governance, fails to take into account some of the specific features and specific risks posed by biometrics, particularly on the group level.”5 Both SWP and the MPS have cited the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice. [...] Both SWP and the MPS have chosen not to follow the recommendations of human rights and technology experts around the world.6 The MPS, for example, commissioned a report from the University of Essex into its use of LFR. [...] Lindsey Chiswick, Director of Intelligence at the MPS, stated during the Committee’s evidence session that the legal basis for LFR is “underpinned now by the [APP] from the College of Policing”.10 The guidance, being authored by police itself, is highly enabling and sets out a broad series of uses for LFR.