The Metropolitan Police are rolling out on-the-spot fingerprint scanners, to scan and check people’s identities against criminal and immigration databases. Our Director was quoted on the issue in the Evening Standard:
“The growth of border-style security on our streets should be cause for concern to all of us. That police can now stop and scan people’s fingerprints to check their immigration status is the modern equivalent of being asked to show your papers.
“This tool clearly risks being applied disproportionately to ethnic minorities who have been over-policed for far too long. If there is reason to believe someone has both committed an offence and is lying about their identity, they should be taken to a police station, read their rights, and dealt with properly.”
‘Met Police rolls out new fingerprint scanners to identify suspects on street amid backlash‘
Also in the Daily Express: ‘More dabs to be taken in street – Met uses new technology to cut crime‘