Last week counter-terrorism police were given permission to track suspects using the capital’s 1,500 traffic cameras, but officials have refused to say how much the scheme would cost.
According to the website ComputerWeekly.com, CCTV experts say holding so much data for so long could require up to 8.8 exabytes (8.8m terabytes) of storage- driving the bill up to GB pound 1.75bn.
Previously data from the ANPR network was deleted after seven days if not required to enforce the congestion charge. A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson said: “I don’t know how the police plan to keep it for five years”.
Wavelet Technology’s CCTV systems are said to have helped police after 7/7 and with the recent Glasgow car bomb investigation. Chris Williams, Marketing Director of the company told Computer Weekly: “We understand the evidentiary requirements of using CCTV for securing convictions.”
He said that just one analogue camera working at 25 images per second produced 3.2 terabytes of data per day. This means the whole TfL system could create some 8.76 exabytes over a five-year period.
Computer Weekly said storage technology company Seagate is expected to launch a DVR with a terabyte of storage space for around GB pound 200. They estimate that storing all of the data at this price would set police back around GB pound 1.75bn.
However, Williams said costs could be cut in half if police only focussed on cases of interest.