Police in London likely aren’t relishing their jobs this week, but Scotland Yard is getting a chance to test drive facial recognition technology that’s under consideration for use during the 2012 Olympic Games. The AP has learned that police there are feeding images into the newly upgraded program, and the results are somewhat promising.

But not more promising than simply disseminating photographs to the general public, which is still far cheaper and more effective than using the nascent facial recognition technology. In an effort to finger those rioters wanted for some more egregious crimes (like assault), the police have released some two dozen photos and videos to Flickr, where 40,000 viewers have looked them over for familiar faces.