By Professor Fraser Sampson, former UK Biometrics & Surveillance Camera CommissionerThere’s something quaintly British about the fact that we still talk about ‘CCTV’. However, the nature and reach of public space surveillance is changing fast – and it has nothing to do with closed circuits or televisions. Even with dynamic pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) functionality and streaming live images, CCTV cameras are ingesters and regurgitators of images and sounds. Biometric surveillance masquerading as CCTV is not just a wolf in sheep’s clothing; it’s not even a ‘two mammal’ problem and implanting AI-enabled biometrics into CCTV risks creating a Frankenstein effect for police surveillance. Genetically engineering police biometrics into first-gen CCTV infrastructure risks a Frankenstein effect in surveillance, technologically, legally and societally.