In north London, contractor NSL’s Public Space Surveillance team working for the Borough of Hackney Civil Protection Service has within a month identified and prosecuted six persistent fly-tippers and located a vulnerable missing 14-year-old girl, a prolific drug dealer and a distressed and vulnerable man in response to specific appeals from local police. In total, NSL reports, the team dealt with nearly 1,200 incidents from reports of stabbings to road traffic accidents and made a significant contribution to no fewer than 49 arrests.
According to Neil Hutchings, NSL’s Local Government Account Director, effective surveillance is invaluable within inner city communities. “Keeping a watchful eye on public spaces using CCTV helps to minimise the scope for illegal activities that can so easily blight a neighbourhood, and helps to ensure criminals are brought to justice. It also provides a very effective tool for locating any individual who may be a cause for concern – either for their own wellbeing or for the risks they pose a community. The positive outcomes delivered by our dedicated Public Surveillance operation have been extremely well received – not just by residents, community groups and the local police, but also local businesses and local healthcare operations as well as the council itself.”
Mr Hutchings stresses that the company’s Public Space Surveillance operation complies with all best practice guidelines for the use of CCTV.
“The London Borough of Hackney’s Civil Protection Service – of which we are part – has just been presented with the Certificate of Compliance by the Surveillance Camera Commissioner. This followed a detailed audit that confirmed compliance with all 12 principles of the Code of Practice and regulations contained within the 2012 Freedoms Act.”
Background
NSL’s Public Space Surveillance Team comprises nine officers and four team leaders based at the borough’s Civil Protection Service operating centre in Stoke Newington (pictured; photo courtesy of NSL). From the outset, it has worked with the council’s Civil Protection Service, the Metropolitan Police and other forces across the UK as well other community groups and residents’ associations. NSL works with over 150 clients in the UK’s local and central government and private sectors.
