LfR technology used by this authority

The request was partially successful.

Dear Northumbria Police,

I'm writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) to ask that you please disclose the details of any Live Facial Recognition Software (LfR / LFRT), retrospective facial recognition (RFR), or Automated Facial Recognition Software by yourselves, and whether it works in conjunction with either your local council or the local police force (as applicable per recipient of this request).

This includes bodycams, vehicular, or stationary cameras.

for police forces, I'd like to know in what circumstances this technology has been used, and in cases of arrests the amount of people scanned vs positives hits, and how many of these positive hits on potential criminals resulted in a correct match leading to arrest.

In the case of local councils, I'd like to know if the software used shared information with either local law enforcement, national agencies, or was used by council-based intelligence hubs. I'd like to know what information is typically garnered, how long it is held for, and whether this was announced publicly.

In case this information is withheld citing sections 23, 24, or 31, I'd instead like information of any work undertaken with or correspondence between you and the following companies: Neoface / NEC, Rekognition, AFR Locate, or Reveal, including cost and times undertaken.

I'm aware that at least 6 constabularies, including the Met, have trialled software and that this information is publicly available to an extent, but in the instance of national security exemptions would like to have the bare bones of the information, which I do not believe would impact this, such as a confirmation of trials, correspondence, or agreements and the names of the companies given, as a matter of public interest and without divulging further specifics.

Yours faithfully,

Max Colbert
The Citizens

Freedom of Information Mailbox, Northumbria Police

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Thank you for your email received today in which you make a request for information that Northumbria Police may hold in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We are in the process of dealing with your request and a response should be provided to you by 17 December 2021 which is in accordance with the legislation.

Although every effort will be made to ensure a response is provided within statutory deadlines, due to current circumstances delays may be unavoidable. We apologise for any inconvenience and will endeavour to process your request as quickly as is practicable.

Yours sincerely

Information Management Unit

www.northumbria.police.uk | www.northumbria-pcc.gov.uk

'Our vision is to deliver an outstanding police service; working with communities to prevent crime and disorder and protect the most vulnerable people from harm.'

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information Mailbox,

Good morning,

 

In order to progress your request we must seek some clarification from
you.

Your request is numbered as below for ease of reference.

 

As it stands points 1 and 2 are not valid questions under the Act, i.e 
it  doesn’t describe the actual recorded information you require, and
therefor does not fulfil the criteria of s8(1)(c) . 

 

Additionally you ask whether the software works in conjunction with either
local council or local police, in what way do you mean ‘works in
conjunction’ and what are you referring to by ‘local police’ – do you mean
the Force, or Area Command – or something else – please clarify?

 

Additionally we would not hold information relating to local councils –
information sought regarding Councils should be directed to the relevant
authorities.

 

Q1: I'm writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) to ask
that you please disclose the details of any Live Facial Recognition
Software (LfR / LFRT), retrospective facial recognition (RFR), or
Automated Facial Recognition Software by yourselves, and whether it works
in conjunction with either your local council or the local police force
(as applicable per recipient of this request).

 

Q2: This includes bodycams, vehicular, or stationary cameras.

 

Q3: for police forces, I'd like to know in what circumstances this
technology has been used, and in cases of arrests the amount of people
scanned vs positives hits, and how many of these positive hits on
potential criminals resulted in a correct match leading to arrest.

 

 

Once clarification has been received, and it’s clear and specific as to
what it is your asking us to look for, we will be able to progress your
request.

The clock is stopped until clarity is received.  You should  note that if
we do not receive within 20 days this request will be closed without
further contact.

 

Kind regards,

 

FOI Team

W: [1]www.northumbria.police.uk

'Our vision is to deliver an outstanding police service; working with
communities to prevent crime and disorder and protect the most vulnerable
people from harm.'

 

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information Mailbox,

I'm asking for details of the technology used (companies, contracts with, capabilities of the software, and time they've been in operation, and as such my request does fall under the act.

Please clarify what you mean by this.

Yours sincerely,

Max Colbert
The Citizens

Freedom of Information Mailbox,

 
Max
 
Your original submission at point 1 was not valid as it did not specify
the information you were looking for - ie
'disclose the details of any Live Facial Recognition  Software (LfR /
LFRT), retrospective facial recognition (RFR), or  Automated Facial
Recognition Software'
does not specify what details you  refer to and therefore was not valid
under S8.
As you have now added :
I'm asking for details of the technology used (companies, contracts with,
capabilities of the software, and time they've been in operation
This would make the request more specific and therefore potentially more
achievable to locate the information.
 
Our second point remains unanswered - to avoid doubt this is:
 
Additionally you ask whether the software works in conjunction with either
local council or local police, in what way do you mean ‘works in
conjunction’ and what are you referring to by ‘local police’ – do you mean
the Force, or Area Command – or something else – please clarify?
 
We await your response on the points above to allow further consideration
of your submission.
 
Regards
FOI team
 
 

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information Mailbox,

Thank you for your response, for clarity I'm referring to whether or not it works in conjunction with local council systems, as in are the police operating this technology in, for example, public spaces, which I presume would fall under the remit of council authorities. The delete as applicable referred to, in this instance, local forces, as it was the force I was contacting, but as this was a bulk request, was also sent to some local councils as I'm aware that often there are data sharing initiatives in place between council authorities and police forces for the prevention of criminal activity.

Yours sincerely,

Max Colbert
The Citizens

Freedom of Information Mailbox,

1 Attachment

 
Provision of Information held by Northumbria Police under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (the" Act")
 
With regard to your email in which you make a request for information that
Northumbria Police may hold.
I regret that Northumbria Police will not be able to complete its response
to you by the date originally stated. We are still researching the
information held and considering whether any exemptions under the Act may
apply, in particular S 31.
I can now advise you that the new date for the provision of a response is
20/01/22
 
I can assure that every effort will be made to ensure that a response will
be provided to you within this new timescale.
Your attention is drawn to the attached which contains your complaint
rights.
 
Yours sincerely
Information Management Unit
 

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information Mailbox,

1 Attachment

 

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

 

Thank you for your email received 19 November 2021 in which you made a
request for access to certain information which may be held by Northumbria
Police.

 

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of
access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority
(including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

 

You asked:

 

I'm writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) to ask that
you please disclose the details of any Live Facial Recognition Software
(LfR / LFRT), retrospective facial recognition (RFR), or Automated Facial
Recognition Software by yourselves, and whether it works in conjunction
with either your local council or the local police force (as applicable
per recipient of this request).

 

This includes bodycams, vehicular, or stationary cameras.

 

for police forces, I'd like to know in what circumstances this technology
has been used, and in cases of arrests the amount of people scanned vs
positives hits, and how many of these positive hits on potential criminals
resulted in a correct match leading to arrest.

 

In the case of local councils, I'd like to know if the software used
shared information with either local law enforcement, national agencies,
or was used by council-based intelligence hubs.  I'd like to know what
information is typically garnered, how long it is held for, and whether
this was announced publicly.

 

In case this information is withheld citing sections 23, 24, or 31, I'd
instead like information of any work undertaken with or correspondence
between you and the following companies: Neoface / NEC, Rekognition, AFR
Locate, or Reveal, including cost and times undertaken.

 

I'm aware that at least 6 constabularies, including the Met, have trialled
software and that this information is publicly available to an extent, but
in the instance of national security exemptions would like to have the
bare bones of the information, which I do not believe would impact this,
such as a confirmation of trials, correspondence, or agreements and the
names of the companies given, as a matter of public interest and without
divulging further specifics.

 

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I
provide a response for your attention.

 

As the information you have requested is accessible by other means I have
not provided you with a copy of the information and will rely on Section
21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  You should therefore consider
this a refusal for your request.

 

I have provided an explanation to this exemption below.

 

Section 21 (1) - Information accessible by other means

 

Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant is exempt
information.

 

We are of the opinion that our response to your earlier submission
provides a response to most of the above.  Our response to your earlier
request is also published on the Northumbria Police Disclosure Log, and as
such Section 21 is applicable.  FOI 1044/21 refers and the link to the Log
is provided below.

 

Additionally I can advise that from searches made with our IC&T
department, that Northumbria police have not undertaken any work or
correspondence with any of the above named companies.

 

If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you
to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as
to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent
the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.

 

Due to the different methods of recording information across 43 forces, a
specific response from one constabulary should not be seen as an
indication of what information could be supplied (within cost) by
another.  Systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor
are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  For this reason
responses between forces may differ, and should not be used for
comparative purposes.

 

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual
property rights of Northumbria Police.  Your use of the information must
be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988
(as amended) or such other applicable legislation.  In particular, you
must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.

 

You may be interested to know that Northumbria Police routinely publish
information via the Disclosure Log.  The aim of the Disclosure Log is to
promote openness and transparency by voluntarily placing information into
the public arena.

 

The Disclosure Log contains copies of some of the information that has
been disclosed by Northumbria Police in response to requests made under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Whilst it is not possible to publish all responses we will endeavour to
publish those where we feel that the information disclosed is in the wider
public interest.

 

The Disclosure Log will be updated once responses have been sent to the
requester.

 

I have provided the relevant link below.

 

[1]https://beta.northumbria.police.uk/about...

 

How to complain

 

If you are unhappy with our decision or do not consider that we have
handled your request properly and we are unable to resolve this issue
informally, you are entitled to make a formal complaint to us under our
complaints procedure, attached.

 

If you are still unhappy after we have investigated your complaint and
reported to you the outcome, you may complain directly to the Information
Commissioner’s Office and request that they investigate to ascertain
whether we have dealt with your request in accordance with the Act.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Tim Pasola

Data Protection and Disclosure Advisor

 

[NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED]

 

'Our vision is to deliver an outstanding police service; working with
communities to prevent crime and disorder and protect the most vulnerable
people from harm.'

 

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References

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1. https://beta.northumbria.police.uk/about...