GOVERNMENT failures have allowed police to exploit legal loopholes to store photographs of innocent people for use with face-recognition systems, MPs warned yesterday.

The Commons science and technology committee said it was “alarming” that officers were uploading images taken of suspects in custody to the police national database even if they were released without charge or later found not guilty.

The government had failed to respond strategically to the growing use of biometric data, leaving a “governance gap” that has allowed the police to begin collecting biometric data without proper oversight.

The committee also accused the government of a “continuing lack of transparency” over the scientific advice it had been given on biometrics, calling the failure to publish a strategy on the emerging technology “inexcusable.”

The committee called for day-to-day, independent oversight of police use of all biometrics, which include technologies that use iris patterns, retinas, face or hand geometry to identify people.

It further proposed that ministers extend the Biometrics Commissioner’s powers beyond DNA and fingerprints to cover police use and retention of facial images.

MPs said it was “imperative” that biometric systems used by the state were accurate and insisted they must undergo rigorous testing — something that did not happen before the searchable national database of custody photographs was started.

Committee chairman Andrew Miller said that while the use of biometrics had “obvious” potential benefits it also introduced risks and raised important ethical and legal questions relating to privacy and autonomy.

“We are not against the police using biometric technologies like facial-recognition software to combat crime and terrorism,” he said.

“But we were alarmed to discover that the police have begun uploading custody photographs of people to the police national database and using facial-­recognition software without any regulatory oversight — some of the people had not even been charged.”