Many City and Town Centres are now covered by CCTV which is usually funded by a combination of Local Councils, Police & Crime Commissioners and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). They are invaluable in driving down street crime and alcohol related anti-social behaviour (ASB).
Public Spaces CCTV Schemes usually cover communal areas in order to protect the people who live, work and visit the area for shopping or recreation. Often these CCTV operations incorporate a Retail Radio Link, whereby radio subscribers can contact the CCTV controllers directly and call surveillance directly down onto individual persons or locations where problems are perceived.
Furthermore, these CCTV Schemes may also partner with local Business Safety Partnerships and utilise additional Crime Prevention systems which allow user access to an online crime information-sharing scheme via a regulated smartphone app. The DISC system (Digital Intranet for Safer Communities) is a popular and good example of this, and consequently is in widespread national use.
For further details, visit https://discagainstcrime.com
Despite some persons being rightly concerned with ‘Big Brother Watch’ and intrusions into personal privacy, these Schemes are run by highly trained, licenced operators to a legal framework set by primary legislation and standards set by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The principal rules and guidelines are contained within:
- The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
- The Surveillance Camera Code of Practice 2013 (the ‘SCCOP’)
- The Data Protection Act (the ‘DPA’)
It is beyond the scope of this guide to explore the these rules and regulations, but we signpost you to the Information Commissioner’s Office for further details: https://ico.org.uk/