Agenda item

(Director of Communities) to consider the attached report.

Caroline Wiggins, the Safer Communities Manager, introduced the EFDC CCTV strategy for 2016-2022, noting that this report had recently gone to the Cabinet for their information and agreement.  She was accompanied by Adrian Petty, the CCTV Operations Officer.

The Committee noted that the strategy covered the period from 2015 to 2022, following on from the previous strategy that was produced in 2008, when the Community Safety Team took over the responsibility for the Council’s CCTV provision as part of the Safer, Cleaner Greener Review.

The Strategy set out the Council’s current CCTV provision, detailing respective locations, numbers of cameras, condition and costs for maintenance, and repair and replacements over the next seven years, along with recommendations for de-commissioning of equipment. It also provided an overview of the benefits that were realised for the local communities in which it was installed and the various use made of CCTV footage by the Police and insurance companies.

The Council’s success in the use of CCTV had generated ongoing demands from Directorates to install new CCTV equipment within key areas of the district and the point has now been reached where an increased budget was required, to meet the costs of replacing old equipment and the increased servicing and maintenance costs, which was also covered by the Strategy.

In July 2014 the Code of Practice (CoP) for CCTV operated by EFDC was reviewed and changes were made to reflect the new national Code released in 2013. Further to this, in 2015, a separate Code for the use of Rapid Deployment CCTV was written and was due to be incorporated into the general CCTV CoP.

Councillor Surtees noted that the requirements for CCTV signage were not as clear as they could be in places around the district. Mr Petty replied that everywhere there were CCTV cameras should be properly signed. However, they did not want to overpopulate an area with signage. In some areas they put larger signs in key areas. They acted as deterrents on their own. If you could suggest where signs are needed we could put them up. Most are of A4 size.

Councillor Patel noted that there were always technical changes in CCTV cameras and something purchased now will be quickly outdated; could we consider a rental option. Mr Petty agreed that technology did not stand still. Some areas have a thing called stockpiling, that is, a rental agreement with companies for equipment that costs a lot of money.  We do not think that this was for us. We have a 7 year use of our equipment and have operating systems that can use old and new technologies at once. Councillor Bassett asked if all our systems were of evidential level. He was told that they were.

Councillor Bassett then asked if we held a list of what equipment all Town and Parish Councils have. Mr Petty said that he knew what Waltham Abbey and Nazeing had, but not what the others had. Essex Police would like a map of where all our cameras were, and he could put this together if the other local councils let him know what they have. Councillor Bassett advised that he should email all the Parish and Town Clerks and they would send you the information you want. Mr Petty agreed that this was something he could do and make up a map for ourselves and the Police.

Mr Petty then gave the Committee some updated information for the period up to January 2016. He noted that there were 40 more requests for footage in 2015 than in the previous year; that 60% of the requests were from the Loughton area; they had completed the new project in Springfields, Waltham Abbey and at Shelley Close, Ongar; the Museum installation was now complete; and there were four other main projects yet to be done for this year.

Councillor Patel wondered about the monitoring of cameras to find out if they were still working. He was told that they were all remotely accessed and they accessed each camera every day. There was also a programme of site visits for the smaller sites. A camera will never be out of action for any extended period of time; they have two companies that do the maintenance work for them and it would normally take 2 to 3 days to get to and repair equipment.

The Chairman thanked Mr Petty and Ms Wiggins for their detailed report and update of the CCTV systems.