Police are set to be handed access to Britain’s passport database under an expansion of facial recognition technology that could be rolled out in every village, town and city across the country.
Under Labour plans, officers would be able compare images from CCTV, doorbells, and dashcams with government records, including 45 million passports and immigration data.
On Thursday, the Home Office launched a consultation aimed at establishing a legal framework for every police force in Britain to use facial recognition technology to catch wanted suspects and criminals.
The plans come amid efforts for police to roll out live facial recognition cameras in crime hotspots across England and Wales.
The Home Office launched a consultation aimed at establishing a legal framework for every police force in Britain to use the technology
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Under the new legal framework, private companies, such as retailers, given the green light to use facial recognition technology in stores across the country in a bid to deter criminals.
However, civil rights groups have warned an expanded roll out of the technology could lead to “historic breaches of Britons’ privacy”.
Currently, police have only limited access to the passport database.
The Home Office consultation will define when and how officers can use images from passport and immigration records and in what circumstances.
The Home Office consultation will define when and how officers can use images from passport and immigration records
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GETTYMinister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire Sarah Jones described the deployment of facial recognition technology as the “biggest breakthrough since DNA matching”, adding it has “taken thousands of dangerous criminals off our streets”.
She told The Telegraph: “I certainly want to see this significantly increased. It’s very effective for policing.
“I want it as one of the tools that are available to the police.
“That’s why we want to have some proper parameters so it’s really clear where it can be useful, so that it can be used more widely.”
Addressing concerns surrounding the use of the technology and privacy, Ms Jones said: “We need to be really clear what we are using this technology for as we go forward, because the police are not like other organisations, they have very significant powers and we need to make sure those powers are used in the right way.”
Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo has strongly opposed the plans, warning the increased use of the technology could turn Britain into an “open prison”.
She said that police being given full access to the national passport database could transform the document into “mugshots for a giant surveillance database, putting the British public at risk of misidentifications and injustice”.
Ms Carlo added: “Every search through this harvest of our personal photos puts millions of innocent citizens through a police line-up without our knowledge or consent.
“Sir Keir Starmer’s Government is committing to historic breaches of Britons’ privacy that you might expect to see in China but not in a democracy.”
Facial recognition is currently used by nine police forces across Britain
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Facial recognition is currently used by nine police forces across Britain, including the Metropolitan Police.
The system draws on the Police National Database, which holds records only of those who have previously been arrested.
Officials also believed extending its use could help locate illegal migrants who are evading authorities.