BSCC-FOI-0823-OC: 2022 police survey
Updated 10 January 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/biometrics-and-surveillance-camera-commissioner-foi-responses-2023/bscc-foi-0823-oc-2022-police-survey
Professor Fraser Sampson
Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
25 April 2023
Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner
To; [redacted]
Reference: BSCC-FOI-0823-OC
[redacted]
Letter by email
Dear [redacted]
I write in response to an email received from you to our office on 30 March 2023 in which you ask for information on the 2022 Police Survey. More specifically, you have requested each police force’s full response to questions related to Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) within the survey. Your request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and we are releasing all the information in the scope of your request. To make the response clear and coherent, I have broken down your request into four separate questions. These are:
Q1. Which forces are using FRT
Q2. The types currently in use
Q3. Which forces plan to use it
Q4. Which other bodies forces are collaborating with on FRT
Please see the answers to each question:
Q1. The forces stating they are using FRT are Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Devon & Cornwall, Dorset, Durham, Dyfed Powys, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Norfolk, North Wales, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk, West Mercia, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, British Transport Police, Metropolitan Police Service.
Q2.
| FRT | Number of mentions |
| Retrospective facial recognition | 11 |
| Other facial recognition technology | 8 |
| Operator initiated facial recognition (mobile phone use) | 1 |
| Live facial recognition | 1 |
| None of above | 17 |
Where there were 8 mentions of the use of other types of FRT technology, these are the Police National Database (PND), the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID), Athena.
Q3. The forces that stated they intend to use FRT in the future are Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Devon & Cornwall, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, British Transport Police, Metropolitan Police Service.
Q4. North Wales, Nottinghamshire, West Midlands and West Yorkshire all stated they are working collaboratively with the Home Office in their use of PND.
If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint within two months to the address below, quoting reference BSCC-FOI-0823-OC. If you ask for an internal review, it would be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the response.
FRT Number of mentions Retrospective facial recognition 11 Other facial recognition technology 8 Operator initiated facial recognition (mobile phone use) 1 Live facial recognition 1 None of above 17
[redacted]
As part of any internal review, our handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. If you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you would have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Yours Sincerely
Fraser Sampson Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner
Email: enquiries@obscc.org.uk