Police Scotland praised over ‘significant reduction’ in children’s biometric data

In March 2023, the Commissioner, Dr Brian Plastow, published a review in which he called on Police Scotland to develop a policy for the acquisition of fingerprints, DNA samples, images and other biometric data from anyone under 18 years of age who is arrested.

The review recommended that any decision to capture biometric data from children should be taken on a case-by-case basis, and that there be no ‘general policy’ that allowed the ‘blanket capture’ of such information.

More than two years on, launching both his latest annual report and a statutory review of the Scottish Biometrics Commission Code of Practice, Dr Plastow says a policy change by Police Scotland has led to a “significant reduction” in the number of arrested children having their biometrics captured.

Dr Plastow said: “Police Scotland introduced a new policy in March 2024 whereby biometric data is now only captured from children arrested in connection with violent or sexual offending, or otherwise by exception.

“In the year following the policy change, there has been a 7.5 per cent reduction in the number of children having biometrics captured.

“Around 4,000 children are arrested in Scotland each year. The outcome of this policy change is that less children will have their biometric data captured following arrest.

“This better reflects the interests of children and the policy position in Scotland via incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024.”

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner’s annual report notes that 2,003 children had at least one biometric taken after being arrested during 2023/24.

One year on from the policy change in March 2024, the figure dropped to 1,851 for 2024/25 – with 152 less children having their biometrics taken following arrest.

While Dr Plastow welcomed the reduction, he repeated his desire to see the criminal age of responsibility in Scotland increased.

He said: “I continue to hold the view that the age of criminal responsibility in Scotland at 12 years of age is still too low, and I support the support the position of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland and agree that criminalising children at the age of 12 is an unacceptable situation and it needs to change.”

In his Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25 Dr Plastow praised Police Scotland for recently creating a dedicated biometrics page on its website, and for providing a biometrics information leaflet to every detainee who has their biometric data captured following arrest.

He said: “This explains why their data has been captured and how it will be used.

“It also signposts to our website, the Code of Practice and our complaints procedure.

“There is now improved transparency and accountability on the part of Police Scotland.”

The annual report states that over the past 12 months the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner has published three thematic reviews – in areas spanning the retention of biometric data, the nature, extent and use of DNA for policing and criminal justice purposes, and the use of retrospective facial search technologies by Police Scotland.

Across the past year the commissioner made 15 new recommendations to Police Scotland for improvement and assessed that Scotland’s national police force had discharged four recommendations from a 2023 review concerning children and vulnerable adults.

Publishing his first statutory review of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Code of Practice, Dr Plastow said there had been no breaches of the code in the almost three years it had been in effect.

During that period there had been more than 300,000 instances of people being held in police custody in Scotland, of which a significant number had their biometric data captured.

The commissioner said he had received just six complaints under the code – of which only four related to biometric data and none had been upheld.

He had not issued any ‘compliance notices’ and had served just one ‘information notice’ on Police Scotland – related to hosting biometric data on cloud storage systems.

He said while the current code of practice had worked well, it was his intention to update it over the next year to keep abreast of recent UK legislative changes relating to biometrics and law enforcement data.

Dr Plastow said: “When the current code took effect in November 2022, Scotland became the first country in the world to have a statutory code of practice to regulate how biometric data may be used for criminal justice and police purposes.

“The current code remains fit for purpose and has withstood the test of time, but factors such the inexorable rise of AI in policing and the application of AI to biometric enabled technologies – as well as UK legislative changes – may require the code to be updated.”

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner welcomed a recent announcement by Police Scotland to move ahead with the future use of live facial recognition (LFR) – while carrying out further engagement with the public and stakeholders and establishing policies and effective governance procedures.

Dr Plastow said: “I would support the future use of LFR by Police Scotland, providing that such use was proportionate and necessary and that it was not deployed in a way that would bring Police Scotland into conflict with the high bar of safeguards contained within the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Code of Practice.

“Having primary legislation in Scotland for the future use of LFR would however provide better legal safeguards.”

He added: “As I publish my annual report, I also wish to pay tribute to the hard working and resolute police officers and forensic scientists who serve our communities around the clock in Scotland, 365 days of the year.

“Their dedication to delivering public safety and security is something we should be proud of and is the bedrock of our safe and flourishing society.”