Britain's Home Office announced on Thursday that a new biometrics commission will take over the role from Alastair MacGregor QC.Professor Paul Wiles, governor of Sheffield Hallam University, will assume a position that involves a wide range of responsibilities in terms of biometric data oversight.Professor Wiles has worked as an academic criminologist at a number of universities, and alongside his governorship he is currently a trustee of the National Centre for Social Research.Until 2015, he served as an advisor to the Sentencing Council, and previously worked as chief scientific adviser to the Home Office.Professor Wiles said: “Legal regulation with independent oversight by a commissioner is essential for maintaining public trust in the holding and use of biometric material by the police”.During his tenure, MacGregor has consistently criticised the storage methods, enrolment and other practises of the UK police in gathering biometric data -saying this had potentially impacted on privacy, and most recently, national security.In late May, Britain's biometric commissioner said that delays in police procedure have led to the deletion of biometric records held on at least 100 potential terror suspects.
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