UK announces National CCTV Oversight body

Exciting times for CCTV in the UK.

"Attached is a brief update on the announcement that has today been made by the Policing Minister regarding the establishment of a CCTV oversight body, which includes the appointment of Andrew Rennison as the interim CCTV Regulator."

I received the following in a note from the CCTV Users group:

"... Whilst personally supportive of the principal of a government body as all the devil will lie in the detail and as usual little detail is included in the briefing note, and so it will be critical for those representing the owners. managers and operators of the wide variety of CCTV systems to be involved to help frame and support the role of oversight body and interim CCTV regulator."

Click here to read the briefing.

According to the briefing note, "The role of the interim Regulator will be to work with the National CCTV Strategy Board on six key areas. These are to:

• develop national standards for the installation and use of CCTV in public space;
• determine training requirements for users and practitioners; • engage with the public and private sector in determining the need and potential content of any regulatory framework;
• raise public awareness and understanding of how CCTV operates and the benefits to tackling crime and public protection;
• review the existing recommendations of the National CCTV Strategy and advising the Strategy Board on implementation, timelines and cost and development of an effective evidence base;
• promote public awareness of the complaints process and criteria for complaints to the relevant agencies (e.g. Information Commissioner, local authority, private organisation etc) and dealing with complaints relating to technical standards."

Let's hope they do the sensible thing .... and get the Doktor involved in a meaningful way.

Enjoy.