West Lancashire Borough Council has gained the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s code of practice certification for its CCTV operations.
Obtaining the five-year certification shows the council’s compliance with the Surveillance Code of Practice and proves good practice. Certification also provides reassurance that the council’s public open space CCTV scheme is managed appropriately; the data gathered from the cameras is used in an appropriate manner and in accordance with the Surveillance Code of Practice guidelines.
The Ormskirk-based council operates 104 public open space cameras. The CCTV operations were audited by an independent examiner.
Councillor Kevin Wright, portfolio holder for Community Safety, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for the team and proves how hard they work to provide an effective CCTV operation for the borough.”
The certification scheme was launched by the Surveillance Camera Commissioner in November 2015 to enable organisations complying with the code of practice to be independently audited. An early adopter, the north London borough of Enfield, was featured in our November 2015 print issue.
West Lancashire’s recent annual report on the CCTV it operates shows that CCTV staff helped police officers make 337 arrests in the district. They were involved in 525 missing/vulnerable person incidents and also identified 1525 incidents themselves through their general monitoring.
One of the issues the council must have due regard to is the privacy of private residents. The software that is used allows for parts of the CCTV image to be completely blanked out. There are several cameras where privacy settings are installed to blank out windows or whole houses to respect residents’ privacy. Visit www.westlancs.gov.uk.
