Police forces in the UK are shot through with Chinese camera technology, according to a survey by the Office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner
The survey, conducted by the Office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner (OBSCC) in the second half of 2022, asked all 43 police force areas in England and Wales, as well as the British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, the Ministry of Defence, and the National Crime Agency, about their use and governance of public surveillance camera systems including on drones and helicopters, body-worn video, ANPR (automatic number plate recognition), and any other relevant systems.
Thirty-nine responses were received out of a possible total of 47. Key findings include that:
Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner Fraser Sampson said:
The OBSCC sent the survey to the chief officers of the 47 policing bodies in June 2022. The document followed the format of earlier surveys conducted by the Surveillance Camera Commissioner in 2017 and 2019. The response rates for previous surveys had been 100%, but the rate for the 2022 survey fell to 91% (39 out of a possible 47) despite responses being accepted more than 3 months after the initial deadline.
The survey report notes that the 2022 return was “disappointing [with] some noticeable absences in returns this time, including some of the larger police forces.”
A list of the bodies that did respond is included in an appendix at the end of the report. The 8 which did not complete the survey were: City of London Police, Gloucestershire Police, Greater Manchester Police, Gwent Police, Merseyside Police, National Crime Agency (NCA), South Yorkshire Police, Thames Valley Police.
An initial analysis of the survey was published in November 2022.