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CCTV to tackle terror
Met says congestion zone cameras will help intelligence
CCTV cameras originally installed to track cars entering the congestion zone are to be used in the war on terror.
Anti-terror officers will be given exclusive dispensation from the Data Protection Act allowing them to view the date, time and location of vehicles.
They previously had to apply for access on a case-by-case basis.
Home secretary Jacqui Smith said the “enduring vehicle-borne terrorist threat to London” had led to the changes.
But civil liberties campaign group Liberty said it was yet further evidence of “function creep”.
The move follows MP Mark Field’s calls in this newspaper for a “ring of steel” to be set up around the West End.
The security measures are used in the City of London where Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology is used to link cars with owners’ details.
Footage of the two Mercedes cars taken by the congestion charge cameras have already been used in the bid to bring to justice the plotters of last month’s botched bomb plot to blow up the West End.
Home Office chiefs insist opening up the CCTV network to police was not a knee-jerk reaction to June’s alleged attack.
They say the data for national security purposes will not to be used to fight ordinary crime.
Police and security minister Tony McNulty said: “The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police believes that it is necessary due to the enduring, vehicle-borne terrorist threat to London.
“The Met requires bulk ANPR data from TfL’s camera network in London specifically for terrorism intelligence purposes and to prevent and investigate such offences. The infrastructure will allow the real-time flow of data between TfL and the Met.”
The scheme will also be reviewed in three months’ time after an interim report by Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair. |
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