UK’s passport database of 45M people could be used to help catch criminals
The UK's passport database could be used to help catch criminals under plans that have been branded an "Orwellian nightmare".
Policing minister Chris Philp said he wants to merge data from the police national database (PND), the Passport Office and other national databases. Forces will then be able to find a match "at the click of a button" by comparing those facial images with CCTV, dashcam and doorbell footage.
He aims to have the system up and running in two years to help curb crime such as shoplifting, burglary, car and bike theft. But the measures have been condemned by politicians and campaigners, who described the plan as a "gross violation of British privacy principles".
According to the Guardian, Mr Philp told a fringe event of the Conservative party conference: "I'm going to be asking police forces to search all of those databases - the police national database, which has custody images, but also other databases like the passport database - not just for shoplifting but for crime generally to get those matches, because the technology is now so good that you can get a blurred image and get a match for it.
"Operationally, I’m asking them to do it now. In the medium term, by which I mean the next two years, we’re going to try and create a new data platform so you can press one button [and it] lets you search it all in one go." In the 2021 census, it was found that the number of people who held a UK passport had increased to 45.7 million, from 42.5 million in 2011.
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Silkie Carlo, director of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, hit out at the plan to use passport photos to create a mass facial recognition database. He said: "Philp’s plan to subvert Brits’ passport photos into a giant police database is Orwellian and a gross violation of British privacy principles.
"It means that over 45 million of us with passports who gave our images for travel purposes will, without any kind of consent or the ability to object, be part of secret police lineups. To scan the population’s photos with highly inaccurate facial recognition technology and treat us like suspects is an outrageous assault on our privacy that totally overlooks the real reasons for shoplifting.
"Philp should concentrate on fixing broken policing rather than building an automated surveillance state. We will look at every possible avenue to challenge this Orwellian nightmare." The Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesperson, Alistair Carmichael, also said: "These proposals are a threat to our fundamental civil liberties. We shall oppose them every step of the way."
The move comes after a survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) put the scale of theft from retail at £953 million - despite more than £700 million in crime prevention spending by retailers. And a second survey found levels of shoplifting in major cities had risen by an average of 27 percent.
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the BRC, previously said: "It is vital that action is taken before the scourge of retail crime gets any worse. We are seeing organised gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying stores. We are seeing violence against colleagues who are doing their job and asking for age-verification.
"We are seeing a torrent of abuse aimed at hardworking shop staff. It’s simply unacceptable – no one should have to go to work fearing for their safety." In a letter arranged by the BRC, shops and stores called for the Home Secretary to create a standalone offence for assaulting or abusing a retail worker - with tougher sentences for offenders.
And they demanded Police across the UK focus more on retail crime. Ms Dickinson added: “It’s time the Government put their words into action. We need to see a standalone offence for assaulting or abusing a retail worker – as exists in Scotland. We need Government to stand with the millions of retail workers who kept us safe and fed during the pandemic – and support them, as those workers supported us."
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