Nine people have been arrested – including on suspicion of child cruelty and burglary – after being identified by live facial recognition technology.

Officers deployed the technology, which compares live images with a police watchlist to catch suspects, in Woolwich and Romford last week.

The arrests made included breaching sexual harm prevention orders, breaching court orders, cruelty to children and aggravated burglary.

The technology works by notifying police if a person officers are looking for walks through the area covered by the cameras.

Officers will be sent an alert to review the image and speak with that person.

Anyone who is not identified as being on the police watchlist has their image automatically deleted by the technology within seconds.

Police say the technology is most commonly deployed to help identify those who are wanted by the courts and police, and to ensure people with conditions issued by the courts are complying with them.