Alvi Choudhury wrongfully arrested after Thames Valley Police facial recognition misidentification

Summary

Alvi Choudhury, a 26-year-old software engineer from Southampton, was wrongfully arrested on January 7, 2026 by Hampshire Constabulary acting on behalf of Thames Valley Police. TVP's retrospective facial recognition system matched Choudhury's mugshot — taken during a prior false arrest in 2021 — to CCTV footage of a thief who stole £3,000 and jewellery from a Milton Keynes Buddhist temple in December 2025. Choudhury was held in custody for approximately 10–11 hours before being released without charge after detectives reviewed his alibi. He had never visited Milton Keynes. TVP acknowledged the facial recognition system provided an initial match but stated the arrest decision was based on officers' own visual assessment. Choudhury, who is of South Asian descent, noted the suspect in the footage looked significantly different from him and has called for legislation governing police use of AI facial recognition. The software has a documented 4% false match rate for Asian faces versus 0.04% for white faces.