![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/uks-passport-database-of-45-million-people-could-be-used-to-help-catch-criminals/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/0_New-dark-blue-colored-British-passport-held-in-a-travellers-hand-with-holiday-suitcase.jpg&description=Policing minister Chris Philp said he wants to created a shared database which will allow police to compare facial images from passports with CCTV, dashcam and doorbell footage The UK's passport database could be used to help catch criminals under plans that have been branded an "Orwellian nightmare". Policing minister Chris Philp said he wants to merge data from the police national database (PND), the Passport Office and other national databases. Forces will then be able to find a match "at the click of a button" by comparing those facial images with CCTV, dashcam and doorbell footage. He aims to have the system up and running in two years to help curb crime such as shoplifting, burglary, car and bike theft. But the measures have been condemned by politicians and campaigners, who described the plan as a "gross violation of British privacy principles". According to the Guardian, Mr Philp told a fringe event of the Conservative party conference: "I'm going to be asking police forces to search all of those databases - the police national database, which has custody images, but also other databases like the passport database - not just for shoplifting but for crime generally to get those matches, because the technology is now so good that you can get a blurred image and get a match for it. "Operationally, I'm asking them to do it now. In the medium term, by which I mean the next two years, we're going to try and create a new data platform so you can press one button [and it] lets you search it all in one go." In the 2021 census, it was found that the number of people who held a UK passport had increased to 45.7 million, from 42.5 million in 2011. Silkie Carlo, director of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, hit out at the plan to use passport photos to create a mass facial recognition database. He said: "Philp's plan to subvert Brits' passport photos into a giant police database is Orwellian and a gross violation of British privacy principles. "It means that over 45){kind=link}
Policing minister Chris Philp said he wants to created a shared database which will allow police to compare facial images from passports with CCTV, dashcam and doorbell footage
The UK’s passport database could be used to help catch criminals under plans that have been branded an “Orwellian nightmare”.
Policing minister Chris Philp said he wants to merge data from the police national database (PND), the Passport Office and other national databases. Forces will then be able to find a match “at the click of a button” by comparing those facial images with CCTV, dashcam and doorbell footage.
He aims to have the system up and running in two years to help curb crime such as shoplifting, burglary, car and bike theft. But the measures have been condemned by politicians and campaigners, who described the plan as a “gross violation of British privacy principles”.
According to the Guardian, Mr Philp told a fringe event of the Conservative party conference: “I’m going to be asking police forces to search all of those databases – the police national database, which has custody images, but also other databases like the passport database – not just for shoplifting but for crime generally to get those matches, because the technology is now so good that you can get a blurred image and get a match for it.