Potential security breaches by police insiders risk
undermining public confidence in law-enforcement surveillance
technologies, such as the
number plate recognition system and
fingerprint database,
the former head of police IT has warned.
Phillip Webb, who stepped down as chief executive of the
Police IT Organisation in March, said that the potential for
insiders or others to misuse information held on police databases
could undermine public support for the technology and the laws that
allow its use.
Speaking on the growth of electronic surveillance at the
Government IT
Summit, Webb said that technologies such as automatic number
plate recognition systems and electronic fingerprint records were
"marvellous tools" that could protect society from dangerous
people.
But he said it was essential that information is "applied
correctly, is used correctly and is not misused".
Webb said he was concerned, in particular, that insiders and
others could misuse the automatic number plate recognition system,
which is the largest Oracle database in Europe. He said, for
example, that it could be used to track the movements of
celebrities or politicians.
The database is able to track a single vehicle's movement over
several months, whether or not the driver is a criminal, he
said.
Webb also said that the police "would not say no" if given a
chance to cross-check 1.2 million unidentified fingerprints taken
by police, which are stored electronically, with fingerprints that
may be collected by the state as part of the
ID cards scheme. But he said a debate needed to be held over
"legally whether or not we should".
About 20% of males and 12% of females are on the UK's
fingerprint database, including some who do not have criminal
records
There is strong public support for legislation that, for
example, allows police to collect and retain data on individuals to
an extent that other countries do not allow. However, Webb warned
that this support might be lost if this information was
misused.
There had been a lack of enthusiasm from the public for engaging
in a debate over the expanding use of surveillance technologies, he
said.
"They probably will engage when something dreadful goes wrong,
but that is probably going to be too late. If we lose the trust of
the public, getting that trust back will be extremely
difficult.
"We must be confident in the legislation which actually sets up
the use of that information and the controls in place to prevent
its being misused," Webb said.
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