UK Watchdog: Policing ‘Shot Through’ With Chinese Surveillance Cameras

Hikvision surveillance cameras outside the Hikvision headquarters in Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang province, on May 22, 2019. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

British policing has been “shot through” with Chinese-made cameras, drones, and surveillance systems, a watchdog said on Thursday.

Biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner Fraser Sampson published the final analysis of a survey, showing at least half of the police forces in England and Wales were using camera systems about which there have been security or ethical concerns.

Fraser last year published an initial analysis based on the responses received by then.

Among the 47 forces Sampson’s office (OBSCC) wrote to, including 43 local police forces, the British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, the Ministry of Defence, and and the National Crime Agency (NCA), 39 completed the survey.

The reports said it was “disappointing” that only 91 percent of the forces returned the survey despite the fact OBSCC accepted responses made three months after the closing date.

According to the analysis, at least 18 respondents, around 38 percent of all forces, told the OBSCC they were using external camera system equipment that has been flagged for having security or ethical concerns, including Dahua, Hikvision, Honeywell and Huawei, and Nuuo.

More than half of the forces (at least 24) said they were using this equipment in their internal camera systems.

At least 11 respondents say their Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems use equipment flagged for security or ethical concerns while at least two respondents use Hikvision cameras in their body-worn video systems.

The commissioner also said 23 of the 31 respondents who said they operate cameras on drones said they were aware of security or ethical concerns about DJI, the Chinese company that made their drones.

A drone in flight at a DJI store in Shenzhen, China's southern Guangdong province, on July 12, 2022. (Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)

Those who didn’t respond to the survey included the NCA and police forces in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, City of London, Gloucestershire, Gwent, South Yorkshire, and Thames Valley.

The watchdog said it’s “abundantly clear“ that ”the police estate in the UK is shot through with Chinese surveillance cameras.”

“It is also clear that the forces deploying this equipment are generally aware that there are security and ethical concerns about the companies that supply their kit,” Sampson said.

Referring to the recent incidents in which Chinese spy balloons were found “60,000 feet up in the sky” over the Americas, Sampson said he doesn’t understand why the UK is “not at least as concerned about the Chinese cameras six feet about our head in the street and elsewhere.”

Hikvision and Dahua, two world-leading surveillance camera manufacturers ultimately owned by the Chinese Communist Party, are the main suppliers of surveillance cameras in Xinjiang, where the Uyghur Tribunal—chaired by the prominent British barrister and judge Sir Geoffrey Nice KC—found genocide had been taking place.

The cameras have also been found to have backdoors and vulnerabilities, sparking security concerns. The United States has blacklisted both companies.

The UK government last year told its departments to stop installing new Chinese surveillance cameras in sensitive sites, citing security considerations, and advised them to consider replacing the existing ones before the maintenance schedule and do the same with non-sensitive sites.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden noted that the manufacturers are subject to China’s National Intelligence Law, a law that requires all organisations and citizens to “support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts.”

Britain's Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden reacts during his visit to the Royal Academy of Dance in London on Oct. 12, 2020. (Kirsty O'Connor/AFP via Getty Images)

Referencing the government’s order to stop installing new Chinese cameras in sensitive sites, Sampson said, “we should, both for security and ethical reasons, really be asking ourselves whether it is ever appropriate for public bodies to use equipment made by companies with such serious questions hanging over them.”

The commissioner also warned that the responsible use of surveillance is vital to gain public trust.

“Clearly it is vital sometimes that the police must be able to use intrusive surveillance technology in public places. But if they want the public to trust them to do so, they must be able to persuade us, not only that they are working partners and providers that can be trusted, but also that they will use the technology available to them lawfully, responsibly and according to a set of clear agreed principles,” he said.

A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said: “Following government guidance where governmental departments have been instructed to cease the deployment of such equipment around sensitive sites, UK Policing will conduct necessary reviews to ensure national security standards are met.

“Model contractual terms and conditions are widely used across policing, and these include specific provision for equality, diversity, and human rights. These are imposed on contracted suppliers and would be used to enforce any breach of contract.”

A Hikvision spokesman said: “It is categorically false to represent Hikvision as a threat to national security. No respected technical institution or assessment has come to this conclusion.

“As a manufacturer, Hikvision does not store end-users’ video data, does not offer cloud storage in the UK and therefore cannot transmit data from end-users to third parties. Hikvision cameras are compliant with the applicable UK laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements.”

The company welcomed the NPCC review and is “committed to upholding the highest standards and respect for human rights,” the spokesman added.

PA Media contributed to this report.