Numberplate recognition cameras routinely survey the movements of millions of motorists
The home secretary, Theresa May, has ordered that a national policecamera network that logs more than 10m movements of motorists every day be placed under statutory regulation.
Her decision means that a "Big Brother" police database that currently holds a mammoth 7.6bn records of the movement of motorists using more than 4,000 cameras across the country will have to be operated with proper accountability and safeguards.
Each entry on the database includes the numberplate, location, date, time and a photograph of the front of the car, which may include images of the driver and any passengers. These details are routinely held for two years.
The options being looked at by the Home Office for regulating the system, known as automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), include establishing a lawful right for the police to collect and retain such details as well as defining who can gain access to the database and placing a legal limit on the period information can be stored for.
Regulation is also expected to require the police to be more open with the public over the number and locations of cameras, with exceptions made for legally authorised covert police operations.
The home secretary's decision goes further than the existing review of the use of CCTV cameras set out in the coalition agreement.
In recent years the use of CCTV cameras has expanded rapidly without clear statutory framework.
The installation of hundreds of ANPR cameras in two Muslim areas in Birmingham was recently halted after a Guardian investigation disclosed they were funded as a counter-terrorism initiative.
The regulation of the police car tracking system will now form part of the wider review of counter-terrorism laws expected to be completed by the autumn.
The Home Office options for regulating the system include:
• Establishing the lawful right to collect and retain ANPR data for policing purposes.
• Defining how widely this data can be used for policing purposes.
• Limiting by whom and for how long ANPR data can be stored.
• Establishing who can have access to ANPR data and for what purposes.
• enabling the bulk transfer of data between agencies and between the private sector and the police for agreed purposes
• Making ANPR cameras transparent to the public (unless authorised for covert purposes).
• Establishing a means of redress around the use of ANPR data.
A Home Office minister, James Brokenshire, said: "Both CCTV and ANPR can be essential tools in combating crime, but the growth in their use has been outside of a suitable governance regime. To ensure that these important technologies continue to command the support and confidence of the public and are used effectively, we believe that further regulation is required. We are examining a number of options and will also be considering the work of the interim CCTV regulator, who is due to report to ministers shortly".
The national system of traffic tracking cameras was introduced in 2006 under the auspices of the Association of Chief Police officers, and without much parliamentary debate, in order to spot uninsured drivers and stolen cars so that motorway patrols could intercept them.
The human rights group Liberty says there has been a massive expansion in the use of ANPR over the past 18 months. The National Police Improvement Agency says that every police force in Britain is now using ANPR as well as the Ministry of Defence, customs and tax investigators, and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
The NPIA revealed that there were 7.6bn records stored at the National ANPR Data Centre in response to a freedom of information request on 15 June. They also revealed that 4,045 fixed and mobile cameras across England and Wales were feeding reports to the national database on a daily basis in the first week of June.
The National ANPR Data Centre provides a central search facility for all the data captured in England and Wales. It can also analyse ANPR readings -including the number, location, date and time - from all the cameras and hopes to move towards sharing its database with other agencies in the future. It already plans to have the capacity to store more than 50mn traffic movements each day.Critics acknowledge that ANPR has played a crucial role in cases such that of Steve Wright, who murdered five Ipswich women, and in helping the police hunt the gang that tried to bomb London and Glasgow in 2007.
But privacy campaigners say no other country does it and it amounts to the routine surveillance of millions of innocent motorists.
