ICO warns Hertfordshire Police over 'disproportionate' use of camera tracking

Enforcement notice comes after investigation into Royston's number plate recognition cameras

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued an enforcement notice to Hertfordshire Constabulary informing it that its use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras is "disproportionate".

It comes following an investigation into the use of cameras around the town of Royston to film motorists entering and leaving the area.

The investigation, which was carried out following complaints by privacy groups, found that the use of cameras by Hertfordshire Constabulary breached the Data Protection Act, with the collection of information deemed unlawful and excessive.

The ICO has therefore issued the police force with an enforcement notice, ordering it to stop processing information about people in this way, unless the use of ANPR cameras can be justified via a privacy impact assessment.

"It is difficult to see why a small rural town such as Royston, requires cameras monitoring all traffic in and out of the town 24 hours a day," said Stephen Eckersley, ICO head of enforcement.

"The use of ANPR cameras and other forms of surveillance must be proportionate to the problem it is trying to address. After detailed enquiries, including consideration of the information Hertfordshire Constabulary provided, we found that this simply wasn't the case in Royston," he continued.

"We hope that this enforcement notice sends a clear message to all police forces, that the use of ANPR cameras needs to be fully justified before they are installed. This includes carrying out a comprehensive assessment of the impact on the privacy of the road using public," Eckersley added.

The ICO recently issued a similar notice to Google, regarding the web firm's use of data collected by cameras mounted on its Street View cars.