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Home Office consults on CCTV code of practice

The Home Office has launched a consultation on a new code of practice for CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), with the intention of making use of the technology “more proportionate and effective”.

The proposals include:

  • Establishment of a checklist of actions to be carried out by CCTV operators before installing new cameras to check whether they are absolutely necessary
  • Development of industry standards for equipment “to ensure it is reliable, effective and gathers images that are of sufficient quality and in a useable format”
  • Improvement in public knowledge about systems in communities “through consultation by police and local authorities and better public information”, and
  • Consideration of whether further guidance is needed on how long data collected by CCTV and ANPR should be retained.

The final code – which was promised by the government when it unveiled the Protection of Freedoms Bill – will be introduced on an incremental basis, with local authorities and the police required to have regard to it immediately. The government will then consider whether to extend the code’s application to organisations such as businesses and private security firms.

Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire said: "CCTV and ANPR systems play a vital role in the prevention and detection of crime. However it is important they are used in a way that does not invade law-abiding people's privacy or undermine the public's confidence in them.

"That's why we are establishing this code and that's why we are asking the public what they think should be in it. Alongside this, we will appoint a new Commissioner to monitor the code and ensure it is effective."

The consultation paper can be found here.

A report in November 2011 by campaign group Big Brother Watch estimated that councils spent £314m on installing and operating cameras between 2007 and 2010.

Meanwhile, a controversial CCTV project in Birmingham was put on hold in June last year after a string of complaints.

Project Champion – a network of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and closed circuit television – involved the setting-up of 169 ANPR and 49 CCTV cameras predominantly in the Sparkbrook and Washwood Heath areas of the city. Both areas have large Muslim populations.