Agenda item

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and reminded Members that the review of the Council’s current CCTV provision had commenced in October 2017.  Two site visits had been undertaken to the Sherwood Lodge Control Room to give Members the opportunity to view the control room during both daytime and evening operations. 

 

The Committee had also considered additional information at the last meeting regarding CCTV budgets for 2018/19, incident categories and CCTV statistics from the previous year.

 

The report to be considered at tonight’s meeting contained the following:-

 

• A summary of the CCTV Shared Service Arrangement;
• Location maps of cameras within Ashfield;
• Recent performance statistics;
• Guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office and the national picture of CCTV;
• Ashfield District Council’s communication of CCTV.

 

The Chairman welcomed the Council’s Service Manager for Community Safety, Rebecca Whitehead and the Community Protection Team Leader, Chris Parkes to the meeting who were in attendance to assist the discussion and review as appropriate.

 

The Service Manager gave an overview of the recent CCTV Control Room visit and felt it had been a worthwhile exercise to see first-hand, the evening operation in progress and to speak with Ben Brown the CCTV Control Room Team Leader.

 

The Community Protection Team Leader then proceeded to outline the latest control room statistics (via presentational slides) and highlighted the key areas of note in relation to camera locations and usage, recorded incidents and categories of incidents.

 

As part of the ensuing discussion, it was acknowledged that the most sought after data namely “the percentage of viewing that had resulted in CCTV evidence forming part of a prosecution or other formal action” was still to be provided by the Police as part of the performance indicators detailed within the Shared Service Agreement.

 

Committee were advised that the Council was due to sign up to the Agreement within the next month or so along with the other two local authority partners. This particular data, to be provided by the Police, would be pivotal in enabling the Council to measure how effectively the provision of CCTV by the Council assisted in the reduction and deterrence of crime whilst increasing community safety.  It was hopeful that ongoing discussions between the three authorities within the Shared Service (the Core Group) and appropriate Police Inspectors would establish an agreed process for obtaining this data on a regular basis.

 

At this point in the meeting a lengthy debate took place and Members considered and discussed the following:-

 

·         the impressive set up of the Control Room and the technology available;

 

·         the variance in quality of camera clarity during darkness, and the vast improvements displayed by HD models currently used by Broxtowe Borough Council;

 

·         the good value for money of the current Shared Service Agreement including both the CCTV monitoring provision and the 24-hour contact centre for all out-of-hours calls made to the Council which was provided at a cost of around £2,200 per month;

 

·         the desire for the Council to upgrade to HD cameras as soon as funding can be made available due to their impressive clarity and clear night time vision;

 

·         concerns regarding the lack of Police contributions to the Shared Service provision and the acknowledgement that discussions regarding this issue had been continuing between the Council, its partners and the Police since 2012;

 

·         acknowledgement that the Police were currently providing the Control Room premises to the Shared Service partners at a peppercorn rent;

 

·         slight concern regarding the small number of officers tasked with monitoring the 200 cameras within the Control Room at any one time and officer’s reassurance that the staffing levels were adequate with all employees being fully trained and equipped to undertake their duties;

 

·         the merits of undertaking a couple of informal Working Group meetings to give Members an opportunity to consider the fundamental review issues and ask questions of key representatives (i.e. Police, Licensing, Planning and Communications);

 

·         the costs incurred with moving fixed and rapidly deployable CCTV cameras and acknowledgement that the process would involve completing lengthy/extensive impact assessments including full compliance with all data protection, Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIPA) Codes of Practice and GDPR requirements and undertaking a full public consultation exercise prior to relocation of any of the Council’s public space cameras;

 

·         acknowledgement that some of the Council’s CCTV cameras are in outdated locations and the call for an immediate review of such locations to ensure the cameras are relocated where necessary to ensure optimum use in the District’s areas of most need;

 

·         the process to be undertaken by the Community Protection Team to evaluate the optimum locations for the cameras and an understanding that the evaluation takes into consideration local police intelligence and information, data and local knowledge from the team, high footfall areas and an ongoing desire to protect the Council’s assets wherever possible;

 

·         the importance of the Council’s CCTV cameras staying within its town centres and parks and any established hotspots as required;

 

·         the potential future commercial viability of the Council’s CCTV cameras;

 

·         the additional cameras owned by the Authority (but not classified as public realm cameras) located at the Northern Depot premises, the Council’s leisure centres and within the Community Protection vehicles;

 

·         the possibility of securing additional local authority partners within the Shared Service agreement in the future;

 

·         the Surveillance Commissioner’s Code of Practice and the support offered to local authorities to achieve surveillance camera compliance;

 

·         the possibility of securing S106 contributions through planning/housing developments for the purchase and installation of CCTV cameras in strategic locations;

 

·         the potential for the Council buying into the use of Police Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras already installed within the District;

 

·         a request to have an update report submitted to the Scrutiny Panel every 6/12 months outlining CCTV incident data categories and statistics with the additional benefit that such reporting/publishing would meet the requirements of the Surveillance Commissioner’s Code of Practice to consistently (and transparently) publish results as to how the Council is deterring and reducing crime whilst increasing community safety.

 

Following conclusion of the debate the Chairman thanked all present at the meeting for their valuable contributions towards the CCTV review.

 

RESOLVED that

a)    the Scrutiny Manager be requested to arrange an informal Working Group meeting by the end of December 2018, for all Scrutiny Panel B Members to attend;

 

b)    in conjunction with a) above, to extend an invitation to the meeting to the following representatives:

 

·         Police Area Inspector for Ashfield;

·         Service Manager for Community Safety;

·         Community Protection Team Leader;

·         Licensing Team Leader;

·         Assistant Director for Planning and Regulatory Services;

·         Senior Communications Officer

·         Service Manager Commercial Development;

 

c)    to consider as part of the wider debate at the Informal Working Group meeting, the following draft recommendations;

 

·         to ensure the ongoing receipt of appropriate Police data outlining the percentages of CCTV evidence that formed part of a prosecution or other formal action;

 

·         the requirement for an immediate review of the Council’s CCTV camera locations to ensure optimal future provision;

 

·         the potential of securing S106 contributions through planning/housing developments for the purchase and installation of CCTV cameras in strategic locations.