(Tunbridge Wells) (Con):...There
are several other areas I would like an update on. First, on
biometrics governance and updates to the framework, the Committee
was told in September 2021, following the Court of Appeal
judgment in Bridges v.South Wales Police, that
the Government were updating the surveillance camera code
accordingly and consulting the relevant organisations set out in
the governing legislation, including police, local authorities,
the Information Commissioner’s Office and the biometrics and
surveillance camera commissioner. A revised code of practice was
promised towards the end of 2021. We have now passed that date.
When can we expect that to be issued?
The Minister for Crime and Policing ():...As I hope Members know, live facial recognition
trials have produced a significant number of arrests; we are up
to 70 now, including for a double count of rape, robbery and
violence, false imprisonment, breach of a non-molestation order,
and assault on the police. My favourite story is that of the
concert by a particular rock band in Cardiff that had been
plagued by dippers—pickpockets and others stealing phones and
wallets. Just advertising and notifying people that facial
recognition was being used at that concert meant that the number
of offences fell to zero. Indeed, South Wales
Police which has been at the forefront of adopting
this technology, produces about 100 identifications a month
through retrospective facial recognition, reducing identification
time from 14 days sometimes to hours, which is obviously critical
when a dangerous criminal is at large...
...It is of course an important part of our democratic process
that people can raise and debate, including here in Parliament,
legitimate concerns about police use of new technologies, and
that legal challenges can be made in the courts, as has been
referred to. Bridges v. South Wales
Police is an example....
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