CCTVIma g e | We l c ome a n d News Welcome and News Membership fees held for another year and tell us what you think of the code of practice


Peter Fry, D i r e c t o r , CCTV User Group


First of all, a par- ticularly warm welcome to our new members. In January alone six new organisa-


tions joined from Local authorities, Housing Associations, Training companies and Consultants.


Membership fees The last time we raised either our Membership


fees or our Conference charges was January 2008! And the good news is that we are not going to increase them this year either! In fact we are again going to offer 10% discount on Conference charges for delegates who pay in full by 31st March, ie this financial year, so we urge you to book early! I hope that your introduction to the new


year however started less problematically than ours with two of our computers giv- ing up the ghost within days of each other, despite being only a few years old. Both were Acer’s so you can reach your own judgement, but I am now worried about the other Acer in the office which is older than the one that failed. After this bad experience we will not be buying Acer again! The good news was that due to our backup system we were able


CODE MAKERS


to recover all the User Group data on them which goes back over a decade. 2013 is evidently going to be a year of


great challenge in Public Area CCTV with yet more budget cuts, new regulation, Code of Practice and licensing arrangements. ‘We live in interesting times’ but we offer our sincere best wishes to all our members for the future.


Licensing At the time of writing I have just completed


filling in the online response to the consulta- tion document on the future approach to the licensing of Public Space CCTV Operators (and other security roles). My apologies for not forwarding it to you but I only got it on the Tuesday before consultation closed on 15th January and have been up to my neck with writing articles for the magazine together with sorting out the above computer problems. In my personal view, in its present form I do feel the proposals are a backward step and risk destroying all that SIA licensing has achieved in terms of raising standards. The consultation document indicates that extending licensing to ‘in-house staff’ would not be pursued in the immediate future, but could be an option when time was available for the necessary legislation. This would have been a major improvement for which we have lobbied many years. However, the final decisions should be


made before our conference and so we hope there will be a SIA presentation at our con- ference (TBC).


June conference 10-12th


March. June – Forward Thinking


Fees at same level as 2008 and even 10% lower if you pay by the end of the current financial year – 31st


The theme of this conference intends to pre- pare managers, both those new to the role and those ‘old hands’, for the future, and put simply, you just can’t afford to miss it! Since Graeme Gerrard identified a need


for a National Strategy in 2005, Public Area CCTV has in many places been largely ‘tread- ing water’ awaiting the words of ‘wisdom’ from the respective Governments. This year, and at this conference, we hope we will find out what the future holds, and the implica- tions for managers. The User Group members (together with other organisations) will be helping to develop the future standards. Apart from the keynote speakers covering


the regulation and legislative issues, other presentations will look at the human aspects of CCTV monitoring, current and future technolo- gy and how this might affect your options, save your authority money or assist the development of new initiatives, as well as the thorny issue of national performance indicators. We also intend to look in more detail about


the benefits of a multifunctional approach in terms of ‘joined up thinking’, providing more efficient services at the same time as reducing the authority’s costs and future proofing your system. We look forward to seeing you there.


Tell us what you think of the draft CCTV Code of Practice


AT LAST, a revised version of the CCTV Code of Practice is available for consultation, and we have already been seeking our Members’ views in a survey. At the time of writing, response has been fairly limited, prob- ably as it is a fairly long document to wade through and assimilate, and I cannot yet say it is a statistically significant response for the Group, but so far results are fairly consistent. We would greatly welcome more views, however, before the User


Group submits its formal response to the consultation, as this is your opportunity to influence what happens to Public Area CCTV in the future. So, if you haven’t done so yet, please fill in our survey (so we can fully represent our members’ views) which is virtually identical to the Home Office online response form. The consultation deadline is 21 March. In my personal view, Andrew, Alastair and the team must have had


a difficult task in the current political climate to develop an approach which, so far, is largely supported by the responses – that this new version is generally recognised as a drastic improvement on the previous drafts. Particularly supported are: terms of defining what areas will be subject


to regulation; what is meant by surveillance by consent; the guiding principles in the code are appropriate to the regulation; the clarity in the


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relationship of the Code to DPA and RIPA; and clarity over the obliga- tions and implications on the various groups (relevant authorities or other users) involved. There are, however, areas where support drops significantly in terms


of ensuring greater transparency; protecting the right for private and fam- ily life and increasing effectiveness; and, interestingly, much uncertainty that the workings of the Surveillance Camera Commissioner are clearly differentiated from those of the Information Commissioner and Chief Surveillance Commissioner. However, not surprisingly so far, the biggest issue is the extent to which members disagree with the costs and benefits outlined in the impact assessment. The short link to the Home Office consultation is: bit.ly/YuQm3Y.The


User Group Survey is at www.surveymonkey.com/s/KTGN2N2. Please visit both sites and fill in both online forms on this critical issue. Finally, both Andrew Rennison and Alastair Thomas have agreed to


speak at our June conference and be involved in the subsequent work- shops, so hopefully the timing of this, nearly three months after closure of the consultation, will enable delegates to gain a good understanding of the future effects. You really can’t afford to miss it!


Wint e r 2013 5


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