Police Scotland ‘failing to take fingerprints of thousands of arrested people’

Police Scotland are failing to take the fingerprints of thousands of the people it arrests each year, according to a report.

Dr Brian Plastow, the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner, published the findings of a review into the use of fingerprints in the criminal justice system.

He found that while Police Scotland are legally allowed to take the fingerprints of any adult who is arrested, the force’s policy is to take fingerprints at the point where someone becomes “officially accused” when they are charged.

This practice was said to be at odds with other parts of the UK.

The report also said that during a three-month period, there were 3,202 instances where someone arrested by Police Scotland did not have their fingerprints taken despite being “officially accused”.

Dr Plastow said: “Fingerprinting an arrested person is a critical step in the criminal justice process, providing the police with strong physical evidence of identity that ties suspects to evidence and crime scenes.

“Not fingerprinting someone who has been arrested and brought into custody results in lost investigative opportunities, both now and in the future.

“It means Police Scotland can’t use its Livescan fingerprint technology to verify the person’s identity in real time, preventing misidentification and any attempts to defeat the ends of justice.

“It means the arrested person’s prints can’t be searched against unidentified crime scenes – in the UK or internationally.

“And it can also result in criminal justice inefficiencies, including where the arrested person subsequently becomes an ‘officially accused’ but cannot then be traced to acquire criminal justice samples including fingerprints.”

However the report praised the recent creation of a head of biometrics role at Police Scotland.

It also said the Scottish Police Authority’s forensic services division had fully implemented recommendations from the 2011 Scottish Fingerprint Inquiry.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We take the findings of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Fingerprint Assurance Review seriously and will fully consider its recommendations.

“As part of dealing with the thousands of people brought into police custody every year, we capture a wide range of data and information, including fingerprints. On some occasions it may not be possible to obtain the fingerprint data due to an individual being in hospital or non-compliant, making it unsafe to do so.

“We are committed to capturing and retaining people’s data, including fingerprints, lawfully and in a proportionate manner and work is in progress to improve our custody processes.”