Watchdog attacks 'ring of steel' camera policy in Hertfordshire town

The setting up of a ‘ring of steel’ of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras around a small town in Hertfordshire was “disproportionate”, the Information Commissioner’s Office has ruled.

After receiving a joint complaint from Big Brother Watch, Privacy International and No CCTV, the watchdog launched an investigation into Hertfordshire Constabulary’s scheme in Royston.

The road network in the town is covered by seven static ANPR cameras at six locations. The policy means that the vehicle registration mark of every licensed vehicle keeper is recorded each time their vehicle goes past a camera.

The ICO said the police force had failed to carry out any effective impact assessment before introducing the system, “which effectively made it impossible for anyone to drive their car in and out of Royston without a record being kept of their journey”.

The watchdog said Hertfordshire Constabulary had been unable to give a satisfactory explanation to justify use of the scheme.

In its enforcement notice, the ICO concluded that the collection of the information was unlawful in breach of principle one of the Data Protection Act 2000.

The scheme was also deemed to be excessive in breach of the third data protection principle.

Hertfordshire Constabulary has been ordered to stop processing people’s information in this way “unless they can justify the ANPR cameras use by way of a proper privacy impact assessment, or similar such assessment”.


ICO Head of Enforcement, Stephen Eckersley, said: “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. 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. 



“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.”



Click here to read the ICO’s CCTV Code of Practice.