Agenda item

Presentation and report of the Commissioner (copy attached).

The Committee received a report and presentation of the Commissioner providing information on the new City of London Police Application (App), which had been the subject of some concerns at the previous meeting, specifically with regard to the legal issues surrounding the App.

The Commissioner provided a short summary of the App’s functions and the ways in which it worked, stressing the importance to modern Forces of utilising social media effectively. Whilst the features of the App were not anticipated to be of major operational use, the element which helped to give an indication to the Force of crowd density and movement could prove useful in crowd control situations, and the ability to use the App to communicate information and updates to people would assist in enhancing the Force’s community engagement. With regard to queries as to the funding of the App, the Commissioner confirmed that its development had been met entirely through a European Commission grant and the Force had not had to contribute any costs themselves. It was clarified that the development of a similar App for Android devices had not been budgeted although it would be considered should it prove a success.

Reassurances were also given as to the legal basis for the mechanism by which the App collected data, with the Comptroller & City Solicitor’s Department having been satisfied that clear permission requests and safeguards were in place and the App having also satisfied stringent European Commission standards and safeguarding checks by the London School of Economics.

RECEIVED.