FB pixel

Guidelines for UK police chiefs on applications to retain & use biometric material

| Stephen Mayhew
Categories Biometrics News  |  Civil / National ID  |  Financial Services  |  Fingerprint Recognition  |  Government Services  |  Iris / Eye Recognition  |  Law Enforcement  |  Surveillance  |  Trade Notes
 

The UK’s National DNA Database Strategy Board has published guidelines for chief police officers when deciding whether to make an application to the biometrics commissioner for the retention and use of biometric material.

Falling under section 63G of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the guidelines are intended to protect the rights of innocent UK citizens arrested in the course of an investigation, particularly in relation to their DNA profiles or fingerprints.

According to the eight-page “Applications to the Biometrics Commissioner under PACE” document, the previous legislation allowed police to retain indefinitely DNA profiles and fingerprints taken from people who were arrested but never charged with any offense.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA) updated this law, ensuring that law enforcement no longer have the power to retain DNA profiles or fingerprints in these situations.

In an effort to protect the rights of innocent UK citizens arrested in the course of an investigation, their DNA profiles and fingerprints are now typically deleted after a ruling has been made on the person not being charged so long as they have no prior convictions that would warrant the retention of their profile.

However, people with no prior convictions who are arrested for a crime but not charged, and then later commit further offenses, may remain unidentified as a result of their biometric data no longer being in the national database. This would obviously affect the police’s ability to prevent and detect crime in the future.

To resolve this issue, the PoFA has introduced a new rule in special cases where chief officers of police can apply for the DNA profile and/or fingerprints taken from a person arrested but not charged with an offence to be kept for three years from the date the biometric data was collected or from the date of arrest, if no biometric data was taken on arrest.

Such applications are made under section 63G of PACE to biometric commissioner Alastair R MacGregor QC, who acts as an independent authority of the UK government in reviewing the retention and use by the police of DNA samples, DNA profiles and fingerprints.

Article Topics

 |   |   |   |   | 

Latest Biometrics News

 

Deepfake detection upgrade for Sumsub highlights continuous self-improvement

Sumsub has launched an upgrade to its deepfake detection product with instant online self-learning updates to address rapidly evolving fraud…

 

Metalenz debuts under-display camera for payment-grade face authentication

Unlocking a smartphone with your face used to require a camera placed in a notch or a punch hole in…

 

UK regulators pan patchwork policy for law enforcement facial recognition

The UK’s two Biometrics Commissioners shared cautionary observations about the use of facial recognition in law enforcement over the weekend…

 

UK gov’t seeks covert surveillance tech in benefit fraud crackdown

The UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published a £2 million (US$2.7 million) tender seeking software and hardware…

 

Biometrics in warfare, surveillance raise new oversight challenges

A new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report warns that biometric technologies are moving from routine identity verification into more consequential…

 

Harvard, Linux Foundation launch open-source wallet for selective data sharing

The internet is seeing a wide-scale push towards identity verification and age assurance, but the question remains: how can users…

Comments

19 Replies to “Guidelines for UK police chiefs on applications to retain & use biometric material”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Continue Reading

Biometric Market Analysis and Buyer's Guides

Most Viewed This Week

Featured Company

Learn More

Biometrics Insight, Opinion

Digital ID In-Depth

Biometrics White Papers

Biometrics Events