Plans to introduce live police surveillance cameras that scan people’s faces have been branded ‘deeply intrusive’ and dangerous by a coalition of international ­privacy campaign groups.

Police Scotland is looking at bringing in the cameras with the aim of cracking down on shop­lifters and people who flout bail conditions.

The Mail on Sunday last week told how officers in police vans will monitor the live scans and check the images against a database. 

But concerns have been raised that the ‘Orwellian’ technology will impinge on civil ­liberties. 

Now, an alliance of some of the world’s foremost privacy campaigners has written to ­Justice Secretary Angela ­Constance to demand the ­proposals are withdrawn.

A coalition of international ­privacy campaign groups has written to Justice Secretary Angela Constance

Big Brother Watch, Liberty, ­Privacy International, Race ­Equality First, Defend Digital Me, Open Rights Group, Statewatch and Stopwatch have all signed a letter claiming the artificial intelligence ‘inverts the vital democratic ­principle of the presumption of innocence whereby suspicion ­precedes surveillance and, instead, treats everyone who passes by like a potential criminal.’

They warned that Scotland would risk following the approach of ­Russia and China, authoritarian regimes which have invested in the technology ‘to the detriment of their ­citizens’ rights and freedoms’.

Scotland’s Biometrics Commissioner Brian Plastow has said there are circumstances where the ‘future use of such technology should be available to the Chief Constable as a strategic or tactical option for potential deployment’.

It is a suggestion that Big Brother Watch has branded ‘Orwellian’. 

They wrote: ‘We urge the Scottish Government to reconsider its plans to adopt this dystopian technology and instead adopt an approach which respects the rights to privacy and free expression, as well as the rights of those marginalised groups who are most affected by the use of this technology.’

The alliance also said data from England and Wales, where the software is already in use, has shown incorrect matches in 75 per cent of cases, raising fears of mistaken identities as well as racial discrimination and privacy breaches.

This led it to warn that relying on such computer evidence could result in a Post Office-style mis­carriage of justice scandal.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The decision to use any technology with facial recognition capability is an operational matter for Police Scotland, which abides by all relevant laws, including the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner’s statutory code of practice.’