Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

RESOLVED

that the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 27th November, 2018, be received and approved as a correct record.

(Appendix A to the report is not for publication by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A, Local Government Act 1972, pages 21 to 42).

The Chairman introduced the item and reminded Members that the Panel had commenced the CCTV review some sixteen months previously and had given valuable time to gain an understanding of the Council’s CCTV provision, its impact within the community and how it contributed to the Council’s Corporate Priorities.

As part of the review, Members had considered an overview of the Council’s CCTV Scheme, visited the CCTV Control Room at Sherwood Lodge on two occasions to view both daytime and night-time operations and took part in an informal Working Group with key officers.  The Panel were now in a position to consider the formulation of final recommendations to Cabinet and the Scrutiny Research and Support Officer took the opportunity to introduce some potential considerations for discussion as follows:-

Recommendation 1

To consider and explore the possibility of upgrading cameras located on the Council’s parks to incorporate HD/infra-red capabilities.

The recommendation had arisen following the second visit to the CCTV Control Room, whereby Members had viewed the Council’s camera under darkness and had been disappointed with the quality of vision of the cameras located on Sutton Lawn and Kingsway Park.  A subsequent demonstration of the HD/infra-red cameras utilised by other authorities had revealed vastly improved clarity and quality of image. It was agreed by the Panel that an evaluation exercise to consider possible costs and benefits to upgrading existing cameras should commence as soon as possible.

Recommendation 2

Following acknowledgement that three CCTV cameras within the District had been identified as poorly performing for some time (Camera 1017 Community Hospital, Portland Street, Kirkby in Ashfield, Camera 1033 Annesley Road, Hucknall and Camera 1025 Ogle Street Car Park, Hucknall) it be requested that Cabinet consider undertaking an evaluation exercise to consider their relocation without delay.

Ongoing data analysis of CCTV performance data had identified three cameras as consistently underperforming.  Having recognised that the process for relocating cameras would be time-extensive and require thorough investigation (the process included privacy assessments, access to power supplies, planning consideration, existing CCTV network integration and analysis of crime data and hotspots) it was agreed by the Panel that an evaluation exercise to consider possible relocations should commence as soon as possible.

Recommendation 3

A request for the Council to improve and enhance its public awareness of the Council’s CCTV provision via social media, looking also at improving the utilisation of available performance data (i.e. linking into any website improvements, social media campaigns and public awareness efforts) including an ongoing commitment towards increasing collaboration with the Police and gaining more analytical support from them as required.

Following lengthy discussions as part of the review, Members consistently reiterated the importance of increasing public awareness of the Council’s CCTV provision and its impact, or otherwise, on the reduction of crime and anti-social behaviour throughout the District.

Recommendation 4

To consider the possibility of installing a call filtering system at the Sherwood Lodge Control Room to enable Control Room Operatives to spend more time monitoring cameras and responding to relevant issues rather  ...  view the full minutes text for item SB.13