Agenda item

To submit the Tendring District Council CCTV Code of Practice and the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s 12 Guiding Principles to Cabinet, so that it may officially adopt these documents on behalf of the Council.

Decision:

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

      

(a)   adopts the CCTV Code of Practice for Tendring District Council and the 12 Guiding Principles, as set out in Appendix A to item A.4 of the Joint Report of the Housing Portfolio Holder and the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder;

 

(b)   authorises the Assistant Director (Partnerships) to deploy future cameras and decide their location in accordance with the Code of Practice and the 12 Guiding Principles; and

 

(c)   requires that any such decision to deploy will only be made in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and the Council’s Senior Responsible Officer for CCTV, following a compliant proposal being submitted by the relevant Assistant Director or Head of Service, who in their turn will have consulted with the relevant Portfolio Holder, dependent on the nature of the circumstances.

Minutes:

The Cabinet gave consideration to a joint report of the Housing Portfolio Holder and the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder (A.4) which submitted the Tendring District Council (TDC) CCTV Code of Practice and the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s 12 Guiding Principles and sought their official adoption by the Cabinet of those documents on behalf of the Council.

 

It was reported that, at the end of December 2018, the Council’s Internal Audit team had reviewed the working practices with regards to CCTV systems within the Council. A ‘moderate risk’ had been found and an improvement notice had been issued. Since that time a CCTV Code of Practice had been drafted (attached as Appendix 1 to the Portfolio Holders’ joint report) and a new set of Operational Procedures (Appendix 2 to that report) had been written. Both the Code and the Operational Procedures had been endorsed as fit for purpose by the Internal Audit Manager. The Corporate Enforcement Group, the Assistant Director (Governance), the Information Governance and IT Services Manager, and the Safer Communities Manager had also been consulted and their comments incorporated within the Code.

 

Members were informed that the Code of Practice took into consideration the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s 12 Guiding Principles and gave CCTV operators a framework to work within. The new set of TDC Operational Procedures would cover every CCTV camera that the Council owned, including the cameras within TDC premises, and as such would offer support and guidance to any Officers across the Council that had to use CCTV as part of their role.

 

Direction from the Surveillance Camera Commissioner required that the Council should adopt a CCTV Code of Practice, which was published on the corporate website, and communicated to all staff that needed to comply with it. At this point the new Operational Procedures should be rolled out across the Council, along with a training programme, so that all departments were following the same rules.

 

Cabinet was made aware that once the Code was adopted TDC could apply for a third-party accreditation that would show any specific areas where TDC could improve its systems and procedures or engage an external professional expert from NASCAM (National association of Surveillance Camera Mangers). In advance of this there were known areas that would need attention, namely:

 

·      In consultation with our partners in Essex Police, and also through public engagement, TDC should review the CCTV System yearly to ensure it was meeting its stated aims. This review would also include the current location of fixed CCTV cameras and any specific areas of crime where a new camera location (either a fixed or rapid deployment) should be considered. This was overdue but would commence once the Code was adopted.

·      Many TDC cameras were old and did not have the privacy software that could be used to pixelate any areas where the cameras were looking directly at a residents' premises. Although the cameras were generally sited to cover public open spaces there were a number of instances where private addresses were overlooked. Currently, TDC mitigated this issue with the privacy and confidentiality training that its staff undertook however those old cameras would need to be replaced to address this issue fully.

·      CCTV training was overdue for Operators in the Control Centre, but also had never taken place for other responsible officers around the Council.An in-house training programme would need to be developed and rolled-out across the Council.

·      A number of cameras had been identified as no longer meeting the aims and objectives of the CCTV system and had been taken out of commission. A future decision would be required as to whether those cameras were removed completely or replaced. It was proposed that this decision be made as part of the annual review.

           

It was suggested that, in the future, there could be the need for further cameras to be added if knowledge of new crime or anti-social behaviour hot spots became apparent. At the outset the Council’s Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for CCTV would be notified of this knowledge which might be derived from information received from Essex Police, or directly from services within the Council. The SRO would discuss the matter with the Assistant Director (Partnerships), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing, and any other relevant Portfolio Holder and Assistant Director or Head of Service, dependent on the nature or location of the circumstances in accordance with the CCTV Code of Practice. Any future decision to deploy cameras would be taken with due regard to the 12 guiding principles in order to ensure a reasonable and proportionate response and recorded accordingly.

 

Having considered all of the information and advice contained in the Portfolio Holders’ joint report:-

 

It was moved by Councillor P B Honeywood, seconded by Councillor G V Guglielmi and:-

 

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

      

(a)   adopts the CCTV Code of Practice for Tendring District Council and the 12 Guiding Principles, as set out in Appendix A to item A.4 of the Joint Report of the Housing Portfolio Holder and the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder;

 

(b)   authorises the Assistant Director (Partnerships) to deploy future cameras and decide their location in accordance with the Code of Practice and the 12 Guiding Principles; and

 

(c)   requires that any such decision to deploy will only be made in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and the Council’s Senior Responsible Officer for CCTV, following a compliant proposal being submitted by the relevant Assistant Director or Head of Service, who in their turn will have consulted with the relevant Portfolio Holder, dependent on the nature of the circumstances.

Supporting documents: