Devon and Cornwall Constabulary is contesting a judgment ordering it to release the location of its fixed automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras, following a successful Freedom of Information appeal by Guardian Government Computing.
The force was told last month to release the locations of its ANPR cameras, in the latest stage of an FoI application initially made in July 2009. Devon and Cornwall's decision to withhold the information was backed by the Information Commissioner's Office, in a finely-balanced judgment published after an investigation lasting a year.
The IRT found in favour of the publication, ordering the information be disclosed within 35 days.
More than 10,000 covert cameras photograph and record the registration numbers of motorists every day. The information is used against a national database to track criminals and has proved vital in tackling criminals.
A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said the force was appealing. "The force continues to take legal advice and is also consulting the Association of Chief Police Officers FOI Central Referral Unit as part of the process," he said.
"The force believes that revealing the exact location of ANPR sites will seriously reduce their impact as a crime-fighting tool in identifying suspects and offenders.
"There is no doubt that since the adve
Devon and Cornwall Police operates 69 cameras, split between fixed sites and vehicles, which read almost 79 million plates last year.
A force spokesman said: 'The force believes that revealing the exact location of ANPR sites will seriously reduce their impact as a crime fighting tool in identifying suspects and offenders.
'There is no doubt that since the advent of ANPR the police's ability to proactively target criminals on the road network has increased dramatically.
'Showing a criminal the exact location of a camera will make those cameras easier to avoid and thus make capturing criminals more difficult.
'While the force accepts the need for transparency and the public's right to information whenever possible, revealing the location of covert policing resources goes far and beyond this.'
The cameras, though, have proved highly controversial, with MPs complaining that the roadside network had been expanded 'by stealth'.
Civil liberties groups have also warned they could be used as a 'tool of mass surveillance' with records - even for innocent motorists - being kept on a police database for a minimum of two years.
