Judgment Approved by the court for handing down
B.
10.
R (Bridges) v CCSWP and SSHD
THE CLAIMS
The Claimant challenges the lawfulness of SWP’s use of AFR Locate
generally and complains regarding two particular occasions when AFR Locate
was used in Cardiff by SWP when he was present. Both occasions were part
of the trial being undertaken by SWP. The trial period has not yet been
completed. The first use of AFR Locate by SWP took place in June 2017 when
the UEFA Champions League Final took place at the Principality Stadium.
The particular deployments in issue in these proceedings were (a) on 21st
December 2017 at Queen Street, a busy shopping area in Cardiff; and (b) on
27th March 2018 at the Defence Procurement, Research, Technology and
Exportability Exhibition (“the Defence Exhibition”) which was held at the
Motorpoint Arena. The Claimant claims to have been present and to have been
caught on camera on each of these two occasions.
21st December 2017 deployment
11.
On 21st December 2017, SWP deployed a single marked AFR-equipped van at
Queen Street in Cardiff city centre. The AFR system was live from 8:00 am to
4:00 pm.
Inspector Lloyd explained that AFR was deployed that day
primarily to locate and detain wanted “Priority and Prolific Offenders”. There
were three watchlists for this deployment: (a) a “red” watchlist, comprising
one person suspected of having committed a serious crime, (b) an “amber”
watchlist, comprising 382 people wanted on warrant, and (c) a “purple”
watchlist, comprising 536 suspects (in effect, every person suspected of
committing a crime in the SWP area). The watchlists therefore totalled 919
people. There were 10 possible matches during the deployment. Of these 2
were not true matches. In one of those cases there was no intervention. Of the
8 true matches there were 2 arrests.
12.
The Claimant says he was present at Queen’s Street on 21st December 2017.
He says that he was approximately 6-10 feet from the van and was,
accordingly, in range of the cameras. The Claimant states that he did not see
signage and was given no other warning indicating that AFR was in use prior
to his being in close proximity to AFR-equipped vans.
27th March 2018 deployment
13.
On 27th March 2018, the Defence Exhibition took place at the Motorpoint
Arena in Cardiff. Inspector Lloyd explained that AFR was deployed because
in previous years the event had attracted disorder and persons involved in past
protests had caused criminal damage and made two bomb hoax calls to disrupt
the event. AFR was live between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm with the cameras
focussing on the arena’s entrance.
14.
There were again three watchlists: (a) a “red” watchlist, comprising subjects of
interest who had been arrested at the same event the previous year, five of
whom had been convicted of a variety of offences; (b) an “amber” warrant
watchlist, comprising 347 persons wanted on warrants; and (c) a “purple”
watchlist, comprising 161 suspects (linked to crimes in the SWP area ranging
from summary only offences to the most serious indictable offences). No