Police use of Images with Facial Recognition Technology

That the Parliament understands that police forces from across the UK have uploaded up to 18 million photographs to the Police National Database for use with facial recognition technology; is concerned that these images might include those of people never charged with an offence or who have been found innocent of a crime; notes the statement by the Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary on Newsnight on 2 February 2015 that, in a recent case in his constabulary, a person was identified using photographs from Scotland; further notes the concerns of the Biometrics Commissioner, Alastair MacGregor QC, regarding the implications for civil liberties of the use of such technology; notes his comment that “urgent steps” should be taken to ensure that facial recognition and other biometric technologies should be governed by an appropriate regulatory regime; considers that, although facial recognition technology might be a useful policing tool, such technology must only be used with suitable safeguards and protection for innocent members of the public; believes that Police Scotland’s use of, or contribution of images to, the Police National Database, or any other database for facial recognition purposes, should be in the context of specific laws set by the Parliament, and considers that legislation similar to that agreed by the Parliament to govern the use of DNA profiles and fingerprints should be adopted to regulate the police use of images for facial recognition purposes and that police use of any new biometric identification technology in the future should be subject to similar regulation.