PSNI authorises 48% of requests for deletion of biometric data

The Police Service of Northern Ireland authorises around half of the requests it receives for biometric data it holds to be deleted, a Stormont committee has heard.

Assistant Chief Constable Anthony McNally said since 2012 a committee has been considering such requests when they are received.

He made the comments to the Stormont Justice Committee which is currently scrutinising the Justice Bill, and earlier heard concerns from members of the Youth Parliament around it.

The Bill proposes amending the law around the retention and destruction of fingerprints and DNA profiles, around the release of children on bail and their detention and to permit the use of live links for some police functions.

Mr McNally said the PSNI has been “working hard” to improve the justice journey for all who experience it, and is keen to work with the committee to continue building confidence in the police.

He said the service is aware of human rights considerations in terms of how long they retain biometrics, and in the absence of legislation created a biometric ratification committee in 2012 to consider applications for deletion of data.

“In terms of deletions made, 117 out of 244 requests, 48%, were authorised for deletion since the inception of that group,” he told MLAs.

He said it is important to highlight that the retention schedules in the Bill will create new demand for the PSNI, but said much of this demand can be assisted with IT, such as flagging disposal dates.

“However, this will of course come at a financial cost,” he said.

“In previous versions of this Bill when the PSNI assessed them, I am reliably informed by my predecessors that in 2021, IT costs alone were reckoned to be circa £1 million.

“Of course IT costs and changes also require human endeavour to make them happen, and again this will be an additional demand on our organisation as we move forward with the Bill.”

Mr McNally said he intends to establish a Justice Bill implementation group to operationalise the legislation within policing.

“This group will focus on addressing the key project management areas, which I see to be the IT requirements, training and guidance to our staff, the partnership impact to other criminal justice organisations and stakeholders, communication and public awareness to build confidence that the new legislation delivers what it sets out to achieve, and identifying and addressing the cost issues to policing,” he said.

Asked about the use of artificial intelligence (AI), Mr McNally said there is a National Police Chief Council-led programme looking at how AI can be used ethically.

“The National Police Chief Council group met for the first time formally in January of this year, and indeed some forces are developing an AI strategy for implementation within policing,” he said.

“I chaired the first meeting of the PSNI’s group on that last week, so this is something we’re very much alive to.

“What I can give an assurance to is that we will put perimeters around the use of artificial intelligence and that where we look to introduce any software that will have an AI aspect to it, that there is appropriate governance and guard rails to ensure that we get the balance right between using it to help us solve crime, to support victims and witnesses, to also deal with hostile state actors who we all know are using AI for their own nefarious purposes.”