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Documented

Facial Recognition Trial by WA Police Leads to Arrests and Raises Ethical Concerns

September 21, 2026
oecd:2026-09-21-ee85View source ↗

What happened

The Western Australian Police Force trialed live facial recognition technology, scanning over 900,000 faces and making 79 arrests, including engaging with registered sex offenders. The system generated eight incorrect alerts, raising concerns about privacy, wrongful identification, and ethical implications of AI use in policing.

Reported impact

Affected parties
Not publicly disclosed
Harm type
Not publicly disclosed
Scale
Not publicly disclosed
Financial impact
Not publicly disclosed
Regulatory action
Not publicly disclosed

Classification

Organization
Not publicly disclosed
AI system
Not publicly disclosed
Industry
Not publicly disclosed
Country
Not publicly disclosed
Provider
Not publicly disclosed
Incident type
Not publicly disclosed

Relevant governance controls

Governance control mapping is not available for this record.

  • No controls mappedNot publicly disclosed

Control mapping is analytical. It does not state that any control would have prevented the incident.

Sources and evidence

OECD AI Incidents Monitor
Primary source
Facial Recognition Trial by WA Police Leads to Arrests and Raises Ethical Concerns
2026-09-21