Hogan-Howe: Spooks tactics will be used to catch muggers

Scotland Yard's new chief has pledged to use hi-tech tactics normally seen on Spooks to catch muggers and burglars in London.

Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said he wanted detectives to make more use of facial recognition cameras to identify criminals wanted for everyday crimes such as assaults.

At present the software is used by the Met's specialist intelligence section to track crooks engaged in more sophisticated crime as well as suspected terrorists.

Recently detectives hunting rioters have used face recognition technology to identify convicted criminals who are already on their databases.

The software is also being used by Facebook to "tag" pictures and private companies for security screening.

Mr Hogan-Howe said: "There's great technology that we've started to see on Facebook [and] on many other internet devices. Facial recognition is growing rapidly. We need to apply that technology to CCTV of criminals. There are probably millions of CCTV pictures of people committing crimes who have not been identified."

Mr Hogan-Howe also announced plans to broaden the use of DNA tracing and vehicle number plate recognition camera.

On Sunday, he ordered the cameras, which log unlicensed or uninsured cars, to be deployed across London. Police conducting checks in East Ham, Peckham, Kennington and Southall arrested 22 people for a variety of offences and seized 46 cars.