Few ask police to delete old mugshots

POLICE RECEIVED only a trickle of requests to remove images from a vast collection of mugshots after a new deletion regime was unveiled, an investigation reveals.

Hundreds of thousands of people were given the green light to ask forces to erase photographs under a Government review published last year.

But figures obtained by the Press Association indicate that only a small number have lodged applications. MPs, campaigners and watchdogs had raised concerns after police amassed millions of “custody images” in their records – pictures taken of individuals’ faces at police stations following arrests.

West Yorkshire Police received the highest number of deletion requests, with 11.

There are about 21m images on the Police National Database (PND), 12.5m of which have been enrolled in a gallery which can be searched using facial recognition software.

These totals include cases where multiple images of the same individual are held.

Controversy has centred on the retention of photographs of those who were released without charge or later cleared.

There is no precise figure for the number of images of innocent people held on the PND but it is believed to run to hundreds of thousands.

The director of Big Brother Watch Silkie Carlo called for images of innocent people to be automatically deleted.

Chief Constable Mike Barton, the national policing lead for facial recognition technology, said the custody images database helps police identify potentially harmful suspects and keep the public safe. “But we recognise there is a balance to be reached between individual freedoms and community safety,” he said.