Overseer Warns British Police About Safety Concerns for Equipment Made in China

British police illustration Wikimedia Commons West Midlands Police palenatoke)

JAKARTA - British police are said to be heavily dependent on Chinese-made cameras, drones and other surveillance equipment, a survey has revealed.

Agencies using the equipment "are generally aware there are security and ethical concerns about the companies that supply their equipment," biometrics and surveillance cameras commissioner Fraser Sampson said of the findings from a survey conducted by his office, OBSCC.

The watchdog's warning comes amid growing concern about the threat

It was China's spy balloon that prompted Britain to review its security measures after the US shot down four flying objects in its airspace this month. Washington declared one of them to be Chinese spyware.

Meanwhile, security concerns over police using Chinese-made drones have also increased.

The questionnaire, sent out in June, asked the 43 police forces in England and Wales - as well as the British Transport Police, Civil Nuclear Police, Ministry of Defense and National Crime Agency (NCA) - about the use of CCTV and other surveillance cameras including on drones and helicopters, video body worn and Automatic License Plate Recognition (ANPR).

The watchdog said some respondents said their camera systems used equipment with safety or ethical concerns, made by companies such as Dahua, Hikvision, Honeywell, Huawei and Nuuo.

"It is very clear from the detailed analysis of the results of this survey that police stations in the UK are hanging on to Chinese surveillance cameras," Sampson said, citing The National News, February 15.

"It's also clear that the troops deploying this equipment are generally aware that there are safety and ethical concerns about the companies that supply their kits."

"There's been a lot of news in the last few days about how worried we should be about Chinese spy balloons 60,000 feet in the sky," he continued.

"I don't see why we don't really care about six-foot Chinese cameras around our heads, on the street and elsewhere," he said.

He added: "I and others have been saying for some time that we should, both for security and ethical reasons, really ask ourselves whether it is appropriate for a public body to use equipment made by companies with serious questions hanging over it. ."

Of the 47 agencies and troops contacted, 39 responded. The City of London, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Gwent, Merseyside, South Yorkshire and Thames Valley Police and the NCA did not take part in the survey, which the OBSCC said was "disappointing".

Twenty-three of the 31 respondents who operated cameras on drones said they had "safety or ethical concerns" about Chinese manufacturer DJI, the findings showed.

At least 18 said their external camera system used equipment that presented a safety or ethical concern, while at least 24 gave a similar response when asked about the internal camera system.

At least 11 respondents gave this answer when asked about their ANPR system. There are also at least two that say they used cameras made by Hikvision for body-worn videos.

"Following government guidelines whereby government departments have been ordered to stop the deployment of such equipment around sensitive locations, the UK Police will carry out the necessary reviews to ensure national security standards are met," a spokesman for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) said.

"Model contract terms and conditions are widely used across the police force and these include specific provisions for equality, diversity, and human rights. These are imposed on contracted suppliers and will be used to enforce any breach of contract," he said.