A collection of news articles, reports, and publications available in the public domain, which are relevant to UK policing.
The Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) has published a statement setting out their regulatory approach during the coronavirus pandemic.
The statement sets out the commitment of the ICO to assist individuals and organisations to ensure data protection laws are upheld and stopping those exploiting the pandemic by misusing personal information.
The statement can be read in full here.
Source: Information Commissioner’s Office
The Home Office have announced funding to enable 101 calls to be free for members of the public starting from today. Up to this point calling 101 has incurred a 15p charge for members of the public. Until the 1st July, there remains a chance that users of small operators will be charged for using the service.
Source: Gov.uk
The Information Commissioner’s Office has created a data protection and coronavirus information hub to help individuals and organisations during the coronavirus pandemic. The hub contains advise on a range of topics such as the use of mobile phone tracking data and the use of personal data by Government and other organisations.
Source: ico.org.uk
A report has been published which presents the findings of a review of public standards around the use of Artificial Intelligence. The review was undertaken by the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
The report contains a number of recommendations for government, national bodies and regulators.
The report can be read in full here.
Source: Gov.uk
Incidents where Taser was deployed doubled since 2016, with record number of incidents reaching 23,000 in span of 12 months to end of March 2019. In most cases they were only aimed but on 2,500 occasions between April 2018 and March 2019 they were fired. This is thought to be the highest number recorded.
Home Office is providing funding to enable 10,000 more officers to carry Tasers, with the police stating that they are vital to ensure safety. At the time of writing, a petition calling to equip all officers with Taser reached 113,000 signatures.
Source: BBC
Following its investigation into how the police use live facial recognition (LFR) technology in public places, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) called for government to introduce a statutory and binding code of practice on the deployment of LFR. The ICO stated that this is necessary in order to give the police and the public enough knowledge as to when and how the police can use LFR systems in public spaces. The ICO has also recommended that the police and other government bodies and organisations do more work to eliminate bias in the algorithms particularly those associated with ethnicity.
Meanwhile the ICO has released the first Commissioner’s Opinion which informs on data protection rules which police forces need to follow before and during deployment of LFR. The Opinion should be followed when LFR is used.
Source: ico.org.uk
The UK Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Strategy has been published by the Home Office. The strategy intends to harness the economic and social benefits of unmanned aircraft, by reducing the risk posed by malicious or illegal use. In the document, it is stated that reducing the risk posed by high-harm illegal use of drone will be achieved by:
1. developing a comprehensive understanding of the evolving risks posed by the malicious and illegal use of drones
2. taking a ‘full spectrum’ approach to deter, detect and disrupt the misuse of drones
3. building strong relationships with industry to ensure their products meet the highest security standards
4. empowering the police and other operational responders through access to counter‑drone capabilities and effective legislation, training and guidance.
The strategy can be read in full here.
Source: Gov.uk
The Home Office has announced that a UK-US Bilateral Data Access Agreement has been signed. It is hoped that the agreement will speed up investigations and prosecutions by enabling law enforcement to go to tech companies directly to access data, removing the need to go through governments.
The agreement, signed by the US Secretary General and the UK Home Secretary, requires the requests for data to be made under an authorisation in accordance with the relevant country’s legislation.
Source: Gov.uk
Whilst speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced funding to support research to develop industry-wide technology that will enable improved identification of violent videos online.
It is hoped that new technology will be able to identify online videos that currently avoid existing detection methods, thus limiting the length of time such videos are online. In order to do this, an algorithm will be created that can be used by any internet company to detect violent and harmful videos such as terrorist footage and prevent them from being shared online.
Source: GOV.UK
The Home Office has announced a funded trial will take place in Stratford Station of new technology designed to safely detect weapons such as guns and knives. The technology, made by the British company Thruvision, can detect devices under clothing up to 30 feet.
The technology works by revealing objects concealed that block a person’s body heat. These objects can then be identified by police officers. The technology is already used on the Los Angeles Metro.
The trial, which will initially last for five days, will be run by the British Transport Police, with support from the Metropolitan Police.
Source: GOV.UK
Police Horizon Scanning 