The United Kingdom has announced plans to rapidly expand the use of artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology to boost the surveillance state. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood stated that the massive investment will help fix the country’s “broken” policing system.

“This will include the largest-ever rollout of live facial recognition technologies across England and Wales,” Mahmood said. “At the same time, we will launch police dot AI, investing a record £150 million in AI and automation to make policing more effective and efficient,” she continued.

AI technology will be deployed to rapidly analyse CCTV, doorbell and mobile phone footage, detect deepfakes, carry out digital forensics and speed up administration such as form filling, redaction and transcription. Mahmood added: “Criminals are operating in increasingly sophisticated ways. However, some police forces are still fighting crime with analogue methods. We will roll out state-of-the-art tech to get more officers on the streets and put rapists and murderers behind bars.”

The government is also increasing the number of live facial recognition vans fivefold, from 10 to 50, which will be used by forces across the country to help catch wanted criminals. The measures, announced on Monday, are part of the biggest overhaul to policing in England and Wales in 200 years. Mahmood stated: “This government’s reforms will ensure we have the right policing in the right place.”

Additionally, the government has confirmed plans to establish a new National Centre for AI in policing, which aims to develop new AI tools for police officers to assist with tasks such as reviewing CCTV footage and transcribing and redacting documents. The Home Office also confirmed that the power to sack chief constables will return to the home secretary, and a licence to practise for police officers—similar to one for doctors—will be created. Furthermore, plans to merge police forces under a new National Police Service (NPS), referred to as the British FBI, have been approved.

The proposed NPS will bring together the existing National Crime Agency (NCA) and Counter Terrorism Policing, as well as take in functions currently carried out by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the National Police Air Service (NPAS), and the College of Policing. The Home Office stated that the precise number and nature of each force will be reviewed and reported back to Mahmood in the summer.

Critics immediately blasted the announcement as an “attack on privacy,” “threat to free speech,” and “discrimination.”