Police can keep ANPR camera locations secret

The police service has won an Information Tribunal case allowing it to keep secret the locations of cameras across the country arguing that disclosure would enable criminals to evade detection.

The tribunal has ruled that the Guardian newspaper will not be given the details of the locations of 45 cameras in Devon and Cornwall. There is currently thought to be a network of around 5,000 roadside cameras in the country which records the locations of 16 million vehicles daily. The cameras have been identified as vital tools to help police catch criminals from serious offenders to low-level crime.

Over the past decade, the service has been calling for more cameras to be installed on motorways, main roads, airports and town centres, to automatically record the number plates and fronts of cars, noting the time, date and location of the images taken.

However, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has acknowledged that although the cameras are an effective tool, the network was patchy and left large gaps in coverage in various parts of the country.

John Dean, who coordinates the network for ACPO, said: “This network of ANPR (automatic numberplate recognition) cameras has been established at local level to reflect the needs of local policing priorities. There has therefore been no national deployment plan and this has resulted in significant gaps of coverage throughout the country.

“The disclosure of the locations of existing ANPR cameras could therefore put some areas at greater risk, the criminals becoming aware of these gaps of coverage.”

However, ACPO added that there are currently no national plans on how to deploy the cameras.

A spokesperson said: “There has been no national deployment plan for ANPR cameras. Police use intelligence and experience to target areas where it believes the system would be most effective. This step has already proved successful and has led to thousands of arrests, proving it is a very effective tool in tracking criminals and bringing them to justice.”

Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire said CCTV and ANPR systems play a vital role in the prevention and detection of crime. However, he stressed that it is important they are used in a way that does not “invade law-abiding people’s privacy or undermine the public’s confidence in them”.