Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to the report of the Chief Officer Resources (SIRO CCTV), Head of Community Services and the Interim Chief Officer Commercial which was to present the Council’s draft Public Space CCTV Annual Monitoring Report 2020 covering the period 1 September 2019 – 31 December 2020.

The Chief Officer Resources spoke to the report and highlighted the main points contained therein, the Interim Chief Officer Commercial and the Head of Community Services would supplement and respond to questions where necessary.

A Member raised concerns with regards to proportionality, stating that there were no cameras in Nantyglo and he felt that cameras needed to be more equally distributed.  The 2020/21 revenue budget set aside for CCTV was £84,000 and he felt this was insufficient.  The Member also raised concerns in relation to confidentiality and Health & Safety issues with officers homeworking and dealing with CCTV enquiries.  The Member knew of other Members with similar concerns and proposed that a cross party group be established to review these issues in more detail and to increase the CCTV budget as he felt the current system was not fit for purpose. 

The Interim Chief Officer Commercial said that in relation to homeworking, under the current regulations Officers needed to work from home wherever possible.  Appropriate arrangements had been put in place and only those officers who had undertaken the relevant training were allowed to view the CCTV footage.  She assured Members that the arrangements put in place during the pandemic had followed the proper protocol.  In relation to evidence gathering and location of cameras, current locations were based upon police statistics, however, during recent Member engagement, Members had commented on wider look evidence to give a richer picture and as part of the Forward Work Programme for CCTV could look at how to bring in wider evidence gathering.  With regard to the CCTV budget the Officer acknowledged that previous budget setting processes had reduced the CCTV budget.

The Member asked for clarification regarding Officers operating the CCTV system from home.  The Interim Chief Officer Commercial clarified that the system was not located in an Officer’s home, the system was in a Council building with restricted access and only the appropriate Officers who had undertaken the relevant training had clearance to view the CCTV footage.  However, during the pandemic, there were some cases where Officers had to use laptops and on occasion may have to attend the Council building to download extra footage, this was all undertaken within current protocol arrangements.

The Member referred to damaged vehicles in his Ward and reiterated that all areas of the Borough should have coverage.  He felt it should be a monitored 24 hour system to help police catch offenders in the act.  The Interim Chief Officer Commercial said that the move to this system had been in partnership with police colleagues, this was a live recording system but not 24/7 monitoring.  Regarding the wider evidence base, work with Members could be undertaken to get that wider evidence base  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7