6mExclusive: At least 11 police forces in England and Wales supplied by China-owned CCTV firm whose technology is also used to monitor Uyghurs
Channel 4 News can exclusively reveal that the same Chinese company whose technology Beijing is using for the surveillance and oppression of its minority Uyghur community also provides surveillance technology to at least eleven police forces in England and Wales.
That manufacturer, the Chinese company Hikvision, makes more CCTV cameras than any company in the world, but the use of their products by Beijing is alleged to be instrumental in the human rights abuses carried out in Xinjiang.
The England and Wales CCTV commissioner, who carried out the survey of police forces, has told this programme the situation isn’t just “morally reprehensible, but a serious security risk”.
In response, Hikvision told us they’re “proud” of the role they play in the fight against crime, that they take cybersecurity and data privacy seriously, and follow all UK laws and regulation.
They also say they’ve never “knowingly committed human rights abuses and would never do so in future”.