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Number plate data plan "unnecessary"

15/09/2008

Privacy campaigners have spoken out against plans that would see the police keep more details of car journeys on the UK's major roads.

At the moment, Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) collects data from 10 million car journeys a day, and holds the data for two years.

However, there are plans for the data to be held for five years, a proposal that surveillance watchdog Privacy International has called "unnecessary and disproportionate".

The database is used by the police to track criminals, locate uninsured cars and find illegal number plates. The number of daily car journeys logged is already set to rise to some 50 million, as a network of roadside CCTV cameras and mobile units in police cars comes on stream at the beginning on next year.

However, Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said the expanded database would give police "extraordinary powers of surveillance", and the group has complained to the Information Commissioner's Office.

"This is possibly one of the most valuable reserves of data imaginable," Davies added.

The Guardian reports that it has obtained an ANPR strategy document from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), advising officers to "fully and strategically exploit" the information gathered.

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