Cutting crime with road cameras

[Chris Edwards]

So the Mayor of London wants "views on his proposals to allow the 
Metropolitan Police to have access to Automatic Number Plate Recognition 
(ANPR) cameras for crime prevention reasons."

 http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/policing-crime/consultations/cutting-crime-with-road-cameras

> "We want London to be the safest big city in the world. "
> [...]
> The Met Police already use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) 
> data to help keep London safe.
> [...]
> If London's police also had access to Transport for London (TfL)s 1,300 
> ANPR cameras, it would triple their level of coverage. These cameras are 
> currently used to enforce the capitals congestion and low emission 
> charges. They could also be used to solve and prevent crime."

Am I missing something here - shurely RIPA already allows Met Police to 
access this TfL data, as appropriate.  In which case, presumably the 
consultation is really about granting some higher level of access, 
possibly with less oversight than RIPA currently requires.

Of course, most reasonable people would agree Police should have "access", 
and will answer yes, without realising the question was *actually* 
regarding "more access"...

Chris