Police forces in Wales and the Welsh Government are set to stop using CCTV cameras linked to china after concerns about security and human rights, according to reports. Hikvision, which is part-owned by the Chinese government, has cameras used by the Welsh government, and North Wales, Dyfed-Powys and Gwent Police, reports the BBC.
But due to security concerns and ethical questions these bodies are now either changing systems completely or freezing using these cameras. CCTV commissioner Fraser Sampson said the use of the surveillance systems was a "real risk" and told the BBC that police forces are leaving themselves open to spying by using the systems.
Hikvision said it was false to represent the cameras as a threat to national security. The advice to stop using the cameras comes after the US shot down several objects over North American airspace. One of these was a suspected spy balloon.
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In November 2022 the UK Government told its departments to stop installing surveillance cameras made by Chinese firms because of security concerns. This advice was also sent to police forces. In a written statement, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden told MPs a review "has concluded that, in light of the threat to the UK and the increasing capability and connectivity of these systems, additional controls are required".
He said these related to equipment produced by companies subject to China's national intelligence law, which says organisations must "support, co-operate with, and collaborate in national intelligence work".
Professor Sampson told the BBC that the cameras were "a risk staring us in the face". "You either trust your technology partners for intrusive surveillance or you don't, and a lot of the evidence is pointing in the don't direction. If the people we trust, like the police, aren't able to trust their surveillance technology partners, then we're in a lot of trouble."
China has denied the allegations and Hikvision has previously said the accusations are "unsubstantiated and not underpinned by evidence".
North Wales Police and Gwent Police said they had some Hikvision equipment, but would not purchase any more until "the formal position is made clear by the UK Government". In 2018, Dyfed-Powys Police spent £1.5m on Hikvision CCTV.
The force's Police and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn said while he understood concerns it would be hard to "immediately de-establish" the system. He says forces would need UK government money for a replacement, and the concerns would play a "major part in decision making. We have got significant safeguards in place in relation to our CCTV system," he said.
When the BBC first contacted the Welsh Government, officials said they had no plans of removing the Hikvision CCTV system until the routine inspection. At the time, Prof Sampson accused the Welsh Government of being a weak link with regards to national security, and also called for urgent action on cameras in public: "It's one system. So if you infect one part of it, you infect all of it," he said.
"We review the security cameras used as part of our CCTV systems as part of their regular maintenance cycle, which is leading to the installation of a replacement CCTV system.
"We take security and ethical factors into consideration during any procurement process. Any outright ban on the use of particular systems would need to be implemented at a UK level," the Welsh Government said.
Hikvision told the BBC: "It is categorically false to represent Hikvision as a threat to national security. No respected technical institution or assessment has come to this conclusion. Hikvision cameras are compliant with the applicable UK laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements. We have always been fully transparent about our operations in the UK."
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