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Police are utilising mugshots to cross reference criminals through surveillance cameras according to a new report.
Under the new scheme, Police Scotland upload mugshots into the UK Police National Database (PND), which is equipped with a facial searching functionality and will alert police if any similar faces are picked up on CCTV. This in turn aids police in identifying any criminals or finding out if they were near the scene of the crime.
Photographs of everyone charged with a crime are input into the PND although Police Scotland insists that it only retains images of convicts. Of the 601,837 mugshots of 334,594 Scots uploaded to the database, the police have used it 440 times for facial recognition.
Detective chief inspector Russell Penman, of Police Scotland's specialist crime division, said: "Police Scotland have been using facial-searching functionality on the Police National Database (PND) since 2014.
"Facial search is an intelligence tool that can be used for intelligence development purposes.
"It is not used for formal photographic identification procedures, although it does provide intelligence around the suspected identity of an individual whose image has been taken and searched. "
“Police Scotland do not retain images indefinitely of people who were never subsequently charged with and convicted of an offence."
Criticism
The use of such technology has been criticised by the High Court, politicians and others due to the potential for Police Scotland to conduct mass surveillance. Others see it as a potential block to freedom of speech.
The move, however, has been defended by other stating that it will aid in the prevention of crime and reduce any errors when CCTV images are available.
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