Police tap road cameras for crime-fighting info

Police could gain greater access to data from road traffic cameras under government plans.

Yesterday the government revealed that Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police have been excepted from parts of the Data Protection Act to allow the "bulk transfer" of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) data in realtime from transport authorities to the police, saying it was necessary due to the "enduring, vehicle-borne terrorist threat to London".

But another document from the Home Office, released inadvertently, revealed plans for enabling the police across the country to also get greater access to data, according to a report in The Times.

A Home Office spokeswoman said in a statement: "We will develop proposals to be discussed across government to ensure that bulk ANPR data sharing with the police is subject to a robust regulatory framework which ensures public openness."

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The spokeswoman added: "No decision has yet been made on whether ANPR data from third parties should be made available in this way to the police for other crime fighting purposes. Such a decision would only be taken with wider consultation."

The government announced plans in 2005 to develop a national network of thousands of cameras that automatically scan car number plates and check them against police databases.

Police can store and search data captured by the national ANPR camera network for at least two years, the government revealed last year.