Scotland’s police needs strategy for biometric data: Biometrics Commissioner

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner has urged police authorities in Scotland to speed up defining their strategy for biometric data and technology. Plans should be approved by the Police Scotland executive and the Scottish Police Authority by October 31st, 2025, according to a report published by Commissioner Brian Plastow this week.

“Without such a plan, there is no clear vision of what Police Scotland hopes to achieve with DNA, fingerprints, facial images, or other biometric enabled technologies including retrospective facial search,” says Plastow.

The report also recommended that police start recording the ethnicity of the people they arrest alongside DNA and other biometric information to ensure no bias.

Currently, police authorities do not record details on ethnicity in the Scottish DNA Database (SDNAD). The practice is concerning considering that Police Scotland has been accused of being “institutionally racist and discriminatory” by its Former Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone.

The lack of data on ethnicity in the database means it has been impossible to establish whether there is an over-representation of certain ethnic groups in terms of arrests.

“We have been unable to establish whether there is any over-representation on the grounds of ethnicity or any other protected characteristic in Scotland,” says Plastow.

Unlike the SDNAD, data from the UK’s National DNA Database (NDNAD) can be used to show whether there is an over-representation of certain groups. According to its data, black citizens account for 7.5 percent of the DNA samples even though their percentage in the UK population is just 4 percent.

Another issue with the database is that less than a third of the profiles of convicted people contain data according to the more advanced DNA24 standard. The standard was introduced in 2014 during an upgrade of the SDNAD database, The Herald Scotland reports.

Earlier this month, the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner kicked off a preliminary consultation for the first statutory review of the Biometric Code of Practice. The document lays out rules for obtaining, using and storing biometric data by police authorities in Scotland. The report is expected no later than November 15th, 2025.

Article Topics

biometric data  |  biometrics  |  dna  |  facial recognition  |  forensics  |  law enforcement  |  police  |  Scotland  |  Scottish Biometrics Commissioner