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| Public get new powers to complain about traffic-monitoring CCTV systems | Public get new powers to complain about traffic-monitoring CCTV systems |
| (4 months later) | |
| The public are to be given new powers to complain about local authority parking and traffic monitoring CCTV camera systems that are used simply to generate cash for councils. | The public are to be given new powers to complain about local authority parking and traffic monitoring CCTV camera systems that are used simply to generate cash for councils. |
| The Home Office has announced that a new code of practice on the use of surveillance cameras is also to curb licensing authorities who insist that landlords install intrusive CCTV cameras inside their pubs as a condition of their licence. | The Home Office has announced that a new code of practice on the use of surveillance cameras is also to curb licensing authorities who insist that landlords install intrusive CCTV cameras inside their pubs as a condition of their licence. |
| The new code also tells police forces who use automatic number plate recognition camera systems, which can match car number plates to the vehicle's registered owner, to put up signs on major routes warning they are in use. | The new code also tells police forces who use automatic number plate recognition camera systems, which can match car number plates to the vehicle's registered owner, to put up signs on major routes warning they are in use. |
| Home Office ministers said they supported the use of overt CCTV systems in public places where there was a legitimate purpose and a pressing need but it needed to be done in a way that amounted to "surveillance by consent". | Home Office ministers said they supported the use of overt CCTV systems in public places where there was a legitimate purpose and a pressing need but it needed to be done in a way that amounted to "surveillance by consent". |
| "We want to ensure that where any overt use of surveillance camera systems in public places is undertaken, it is done with a consensus of public support and trust, which can be characterised as surveillance by consent," said Lord Taylor, the minister for criminal information. | "We want to ensure that where any overt use of surveillance camera systems in public places is undertaken, it is done with a consensus of public support and trust, which can be characterised as surveillance by consent," said Lord Taylor, the minister for criminal information. |
| The decision to include systems that monitor parking and minor traffic infringements within the new code was taken in the face of growing concerns that an increasing number of local authority CCTV systems are being used to prosecute the public simply to generate revenue. | The decision to include systems that monitor parking and minor traffic infringements within the new code was taken in the face of growing concerns that an increasing number of local authority CCTV systems are being used to prosecute the public simply to generate revenue. |
| "If there are public concerns that surveillance cameras are being used for revenue generation, then this code provides a further avenue through which a local authority can be held to account." | "If there are public concerns that surveillance cameras are being used for revenue generation, then this code provides a further avenue through which a local authority can be held to account." |
| Ministers have also used the code to try to curb the growing insistence by licensing authorities that CCTV cameras be installed as a condition of licences such as in taxis or in pubs. | Ministers have also used the code to try to curb the growing insistence by licensing authorities that CCTV cameras be installed as a condition of licences such as in taxis or in pubs. |
| The code says there may be circumstances where a blanket requirement for CCTV cameras attached to all licences in a particular local authority is justified. | The code says there may be circumstances where a blanket requirement for CCTV cameras attached to all licences in a particular local authority is justified. |
| "For example, in the light of serious violent and sexual offences taking place in and around taxis and the consequent need to protect vulnerable users of taxis, it may be proportionate for a local authority to require the compulsory installation of CCTV in licensed taxis as an essential tool to deter perpetrators and help with the investigation of such incidents," says the code. | "For example, in the light of serious violent and sexual offences taking place in and around taxis and the consequent need to protect vulnerable users of taxis, it may be proportionate for a local authority to require the compulsory installation of CCTV in licensed taxis as an essential tool to deter perpetrators and help with the investigation of such incidents," says the code. |
| But it says that it would not be appropriate to take such a blanket approach for trouble-free rural or community pubs, where there is unlikely to be a pressing need that would justify a CCTV condition being attached to a licence. | But it says that it would not be appropriate to take such a blanket approach for trouble-free rural or community pubs, where there is unlikely to be a pressing need that would justify a CCTV condition being attached to a licence. |
| The code also says that a requirement that an individual landlord should install CCTV cameras inside a pub should only be imposed after discussions with the police and must be in response to pressing need. It adds that it must not interfere with the right to respect for private and family life requirement under the Human Rights Act. | The code also says that a requirement that an individual landlord should install CCTV cameras inside a pub should only be imposed after discussions with the police and must be in response to pressing need. It adds that it must not interfere with the right to respect for private and family life requirement under the Human Rights Act. |
| An official Home Office impact assessment published alongside the new code of practice sidesteps the vexed question of how many CCTV cameras are in use in Britain. The Association of Chief Police Officers estimated in March 2011 that there were 1.8m cameras in use. | An official Home Office impact assessment published alongside the new code of practice sidesteps the vexed question of how many CCTV cameras are in use in Britain. The Association of Chief Police Officers estimated in March 2011 that there were 1.8m cameras in use. |
| Both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats promised before the 2010 general election to take action to regulate the proliferation of closed-circuit television systems and to "roll back the surveillance state". | Both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats promised before the 2010 general election to take action to regulate the proliferation of closed-circuit television systems and to "roll back the surveillance state". |
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