The police and who knows who else could soon be tracking your movements under the Government's number plate scanning scheme.
Home Secretary David Blunkett announced this week that a high-tech vehicle number plate scanning system that the Government says has seen police arrest rates soar and millions of pounds worth of stolen goods recovered is to receive a £15 million boost. This could move Britain further into a surveillance society, say privacy campaigners.
The main aim of the system is to solve non-car-related crimes. More than 13,000 arrests have been made by ANPR teams -- an arrest rate nine times higher than the police national average, says the Government -- and £8 million worth of drugs and property seized during a year-long pilot of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology in 23 police forces all over the country.
However, privacy issues raise concern. Comments about the scheme include those of Richard Allan MP, the Liberal Democrat's technology spokesman, who said that the debate about the ethics of ANPR has lagged behind its implementation.
"People have a right to go about their business without their whereabouts being known. There are lots of reasons why perfectly innocent people might not want that broadcast. Maybe somebody suspects their partner of infidelity? Could someone key in a number plate and find out where they have been? We have to anticipate the worst happening," Allan said, adding that, unlike town-centre CCTV systems, under ANPR your identity is known.
Other privacy campaigners say that the public have no idea where the data goes, how it's being stored and for how long, nor to what use it was being put. They are concerned about a growing surveillance culture and that haphazard nature of surveillance can mean data protection laws are often broken.
"The state wants to gather as much information as it can on people. What we are anxious about is information that is gathered, perhaps, to be used one day", said a spokesman for campaign group Liberty (see site link below).
ANPR proponent chief superintendent Geoff Dodd said he was aware of the data protection issues, adding that the police are very overt about the ANPR. "There are big boards -- great big fluorescent signs -- saying: 'Your registration will be checked.'"
He added that the police did not wish to break data protection legislation or human rights legislation, and that they had spoken to the surveillance commissioner and data protection lawyers. So that's all right then.
ANPR instantly scans vehicle number plates and matches them against information stored against police databases to identify stolen vehicles or those involved in crime. Once identified by the system, suspicious vehicles are intercepted by the police and their drivers questioned. The ANPR intercept teams stopped a total of 180,543 vehicles.
The scheme has been piloted in 23 areas and the Government says this week's results this week demonstrate that it's an overwhelming success. The £15 million cash boost will help expand the scheme to other police forces. It will also fund the creation of a national data centre to exchange ANPR-read data from across the UK for post-incident investigation and to support work to tackle terrorism and organised crime.
What ANPR's proponents say
Mr Blunkett said, "ANPR is a powerful tool, unique in its ability to impact on crime at every level, from local volume crime through cross-border and organised crime and counter terrorism. It brings enormous benefits to the police and to society.
"More than 13,000 arrests have been made and ?8 million of stolen goods and drugs seized as a result of targeted policing using high-tech ANPR systems which use cameras to check vehicle number plates against databases and identify vehicles of interest to the police. Its impact goes far beyond the roads - thousands of arrests were made for theft, burglary and drugs offences.
"The Government's investment of an additional ?15 million to support the ANPR programme means that even more offenders will be brought to justice and potential victims protected. It will allow police forces throughout England and Wales to improve and build on their capacity to deny criminals the use of the road. It will ensure that national roll-out of this innovative system can progress quickly.
"ANPR is a shining example of how targeted police operations deliver positive results."
Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom, ACPO lead on roads policing, said, "I am absolutely delighted that the Government has decided to invest such a significant sum of money in the development of ANPR. We in the police can be relied upon to use it for the purpose for which it is intended - to deny criminals the use of the roads."
Since June 2003, forces have been able to recycle revenue from fixed penalties detected by ANPR technology to part-finance the expansion of the system, meaning that those who breach the law pay for its policing. In the first nine months of operation, ?1 million was raised which helped improve the intelligence capability of ANPR teams, and contributed to administrative support.
The report on the pilot scheme is here: www.homeoffice.gov.uk