The annual NASCAM (National Association of Surveillance Camera Managers) and CCTV User Group conference and exhibition promises updates on legal and practical work in monitoring and using CCTV systems. It runs from May 13 to 15, at Whittlebury Hall, Hotel and Spa, near Towcester.
Tony Porter, the Surveillance Camera Commissioner (SCC) will again deliver the keynote conference presentation, giving the latest on his two-year-old and many-stranded, developing National Surveillance Camera Strategy. Another regulator speaking is Anne Russell, Senior Policy Officer, Police, Justice and Surveillance, the Information Commissioners Office, due to review GDPR, a year after the new data protection law came into force in May 2018.
As with any gathering, it’s as much about learning from each other as from the speakers; hence workshops, on horizon scanning (a strand of Tony Porter’s strategy) led by David Lowe – Business Strategy Director, Synectics; one on ‘risk appetite’ by Ilker Dervish, Vice-Chair of the CCTV User Group; and a session led by SCC staffers on how practitioners can become an SCC accredited service.
There’s a police tinge to much of the conference, reflecting how CCTV is a go-to source of evidence and intelligence for police, whether for the most serious acts of terrorism and other crimes, or for more volume crime. Speakers invited include Jenny Gilmer, Assistant Chief Constable for South Wales Police and the NPCC (National Police Chiefs’ Council) lead for CCTV; and Nick Aldworth, National Coordinator, Protect and Prepare, Metropolitan Police.
The title of the event ‘Into the Grey Space’, reflects the official police interest in that idea of ‘undefended’ public realm space that’s not obviously ‘owned’ by anyone, that gives scope to a criminal or terrorist to prepare for an attack feeling unobserved, safe and with a low risk of identification. The consultant Chris Aldous will speak on that topic, suggesting – with examples such as the London Olympics – of how risk assessments, leading to building security mitigation measures built into designs, can combine physical, technical and procedural security to safeguard defined assets.
For registration, visit the CCTV User Group website.
Picture by Mark Rowe; CCTV and public signage, Birmingham.
