ESSEX Police has unveiled its new live facial recognition technology for the first time at the Clacton Airshow.

The technology was first tested in Chelmsford and Southend last October, before being rolled out in its current capacity for the first time at the popular north Essex event.

Yesterday it led to the arrest of a 39-year-old woman from Clacton on suspicion of a dangerous dog offence related to an incident where a girl was bitten by a dog.

It uses a camera which compares faces against a database or watch list of “people of interest”.

Police say only images of specific people wanted in connection with high harm and violent crimes are contained on the database.

Police are scanning the crowds for anyone who is recognised by their system, using CCTV cameras installed on top of the vans.

These are connected to a series of monitors inside the vans which are watched closely by officers.

Speaking to at the airshow, Chief Supt Leighton explained the technology further.

He said: “The machines are scanning the crowd all of the time and there is a list within that van of people that we want to speak that are wanted for criminal offences.

“A normal member of the public would walk past, the camera would see that face, the people inside the van would see that blurred, and it would forget it within a second and delete it forever.

“The only time the facial image comes clear to the controller is if that person is on our list and we want to speak to them.

“At that point, it will notify the controller and we have got officers around who can go and speak to that person and deal with them proportionally depending on what it was we wanted to speak to them about.”

Members of the public were welcomed to visit the vans and police insist the equipment is not a “secret covert operation”.

Mr Leighton added: “I think it is a really good investment for Essex Police.

“If you think about it, criminals across Essex are using technology to exploit the community all of the time, whether that is physical harm or financial harm.

“This is a step for us to use technology to catch the criminals that are causing the harm

“This is the next step in keeping the community safe.”