Privacy fears have been raised in the UK over police unlawfully storing images of innocent people for the purposes of facial recognition, The Guardian reports.
The retention of the images has come to light in the annual report of the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner.
According to The Guardian, the high court ruled in 2012 that keeping the images of people who faced no action or who were charged and then acquitted was unlawful.
Despite the ruling, custody images of innocent people are still on the Police national database, which is available to all UK police forces and selected law enforcement agencies. The images can be used for facial recognition checks of potential suspects.
The report says: “Forces continue to retain and use images of people who, while having been arrested, have never subsequently been charged or summonsed.
“The use of these custody images of unconvicted individuals may include for facial recognition purposes.”
The report said work was “under way” to ensure the retention of images was proportionate and lawful.
The Guardian quotes Charlie Whelton, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, as saying: “It is deeply concerning that people who have never been charged with a crime are finding their sensitive biometric data not only unlawfully retained by police, but used to fuel the unregulated and deeply invasive use of facial recognition technology as well.
“The police need to answer as to why they are still holding this highly personal data more than 10 years after the courts said this is against the law. This is even more concerning as police forge ahead with dangerous facial recognition technology that makes our photos as sensitive as our fingerprints.”
He called on parliament to “urgently act to regulate the use of this technology”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Rules for the retention of custody images are set by the police. We continually work with police and key stakeholders to ensure best practice is maintained.
“If individuals who have not been convicted want their images deleted, they can request this.”