Report Summary
Issued 1 November 2023, this FOI response confirms that information on Police Scotland’s plans to access and use Glasgow City Council’s Suspect Search technology is not held by the Scottish Police Authority. The Authority's response to the Justice Sub-committee is provided for context and explanation.
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Response
The Scottish Police Authority does not hold the information you have requested. Therefore, this represents a notice in terms of Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
To explain, the Justice Sub-committee on policing published its Facial Recognition Report on 11 February 2020. Within the report was the following recommendation:
“The Sub-Committee asks the Scottish Police Authority to review Police Scotland’s plans to access and use Glasgow City Council’s Suspect Search technology. This should include consideration of whether all the necessary impact assessments have been undertaken and safeguards met.”
The Authority responded to the committee’s report in April 2020. The full response is provided as Attachment 1 and states:
“The Suspect Search Facility is still undergoing development by Glasgow City Council and is not available to Police Scotland. Our understanding is that the technology does not use facial recognition; rather it scans existing CCTV images to track potential persons of interest on the basis of height, colour of clothing etc. It is a standalone system which does not communicate with any Police Scotland or other external databases. Once the system is developed, if Police Scotland plan to access and use the system, then SPA scrutiny will include all necessary impact assessments and safeguards.”
There was therefore no review conducted.
