In a statement, Thames Valley Police said: “While we apologise for the distress caused to the complainant in this case, their arrest was based on the investigating officers’ own visual assessment that the individual matched the suspect in CCTV footage following a retrospective facial recognition match, and was not influenced by racial profiling.
“To confirm, retrospective facial recognition technology did initially provide intelligence, but did not determine the arrest.
“Although later inquiries eliminated the individual from the investigation, this does not make the arrest unlawful.
“We continue to use policing tools responsibly while striving to improve and build trust in our communities.”
Retrospective Facial Recognition, external, using the PND, is different to Live Facial Recognition technology, a more recent automated system which is being deployed by police forces in camera vans.