Live Facial Recognition (LFR) deployments

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.030175

I note you seek access to the following information:

I am writing to request the following information relating to the LFR Deployments in April 2023

1. Details of the LFR purpose for which the individual stopped on 20/04/2023 was on the watchlist, and the offence category if it was a wanted person

2. Details of the disposal, including whether the watchlist inclusion was correct, as the public deployment record appears to contain contradictory results of 'other disposal' and 'no action'

I would like all document sent electronically please. Under Section 16 of the Act I also ask that if this request cannot be fulfilled under the legislation, that you offer advice and assistance to help the request comply with the act. I look forward to your response within 20 working days.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 40 - Personal Information

Reason for decision

Section 40 Personal Information - Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 confirms that information which relates to an identified or identifiable living individual is Personal Data.

The Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption for Personal Data and this is known as the section 40 exemption.

The information sought under your Freedom of Information request includes the following which we consider to be Personal Data

• Details of the LFR purpose for which the individual stopped on 20/04/23 was on the watchlist, and the offence category if it was a wanted person.

Where the request is seeking access to third party personal data the section 40(2) exemption may be engaged.

In order to apply the Section 40(2) exemption the disclosure of the requested information must satisfy either the first, second or third conditions as defined by subsections 3A, 3B and 4A of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (as amended by Schedule 19 of the Data Protection Act 2018, specifically Section 58 of that schedule).

The first condition ensures that the exemption would apply in circumstances where the disclosure of the information would breach any of the Data Protection Act 2018 principles.

There are six Data Protection principles set out in the 2018 act and these can be found at section 34.

In this instance I have decided that the disclosure of the Personal Data would be incompatible with the first Data Protection principle which states that the processing (in this case the disclosure) of the data must be both lawful and fair.

Disclosure

In relation to Q2, to assist with the interpretation of our published document we record that a satisfactory stop check has occurred where we are satisfied that the person stopped was the person sought on our watchlist. We also record where no further action has occurred as a result of a policing interaction from a stop check.