Edmonton police testing facial recognition-enabled bodycams
Posted December 2, 2025 10:55 am.
Last Updated December 3, 2025 9:31 am.
The Edmonton Police Service will begin a proof of concept this month to test facial recognition-enabled body cameras.
The force says the “limited trial will assess the feasibility and functionality of this technology.”
Starting Wednesday and throughout December, up to 50 police officers currently equipped with bodycams will use cameras enabled for facial recognition.
“This proof of concept will test the technology’s ability to work with our database to make officers aware of individuals with safety flags and cautions from previous interactions,” the EPS explained in a news release. “It also includes individuals who have outstanding warrants for serious crimes, such as murder, aggravated assault and robbery. Mugshot images in the database are EPS data.”
During the test, officers won’t be alerted about facial recognition while on duty. The feature instead will run in the background, and other officers will afterwards review the footage to see if the facial recognition software works as intended.
“Any possible resemblance notifications will be double-checked by trained officers for accuracy,” the EPS says.
Any potential benefits for officer safety, and how the cameras can affect day-to-day policing, will be evaluated after the proof of concept, police say.
“After the test period, any still images used for facial recognition will be deleted, but the original video will be kept according to EPS rules.”
The results of the proof of concept will then be reviewed by the Edmonton Police Commission and the Chief’s Committee, which will decide whether to move forward with further testing in 2026.
The technology is developed by Axon Enterprise Inc., a U.S. company that sells Tasers, body cameras and software to public safety departments. EPS says it’s the first police force in the world to test Axon’s facial-recognition cameras.
The EPS says it’s submitted a privacy impact assessment to Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner to ensure the facial recognition proof of concept is “fair and respects people’s privacy and the law.”
