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Some real life questions (with our thanks to world passports.org):
Hello,
I am just about to purchase some CCTV equipment.
I was informed by a friend that there are some guide lines that need
to be followed if I want CCTV footage to be up held in court.
1. CCTV must be encrypted in some way, a tamper proof certified system
must be in place so the images can not be altered on the system.
2. If someone requests CCTV footage of themselves, under the data
protection act I have to give them a copy.
So does anyone know what the exact guidelines are? What systems are
certified "tamper proof" and how long can I keep/have CCTV footage
for?
As with a photos the defendant must be recognisable and the recorder
adds a date / time stamp, though a public clock (for the time) in the
picture will do.
...............................................................
1. I have never heard of encryption being used on CCTV. Most CCTV is time
and date stamped and cant be messed with.
2. People can request that any stored images of them are shown. This is
where you have to be careful. You must obsure everyone else's image other
than the person requesting it. This is at their cost. You may be breaching
the DPA if you show other people in the shot who havent given their consent.
Most people use an external company to do this.
As for how long you can keep the images for its open to debate. The rule of
thumb is that the data and or images must only be kept for the purpose it
was collected for and not kept any longer than needed. Most systems I have
worked with is around 30 days.
The system has to be fit for the purpose. The police are fed up with broked
cameras or fuzzy blured images.
As you have gathered Im not a legal advisor, I just working in CCTV control
rooms from time to time. So I hope this helped.
Andy
............................................................
Surely this would not apply to someone putting CCTV on the outside of
his house?
The new guidance following a court of appeal ruling in 2004 appears to
suggest that if you use a fixed camera and only supply the recording to
the police then DPA doesn't apply, you don't need to register and you
don't need to respond to DPA requests for copies of any recordings. Only
if you use a camera that can pan, zoom or specifically watch the
movements of an individual, rather than just catching an individual on
camera, would those rules apply. There does not appear to be a
distinction between home use and business use.
Mike_B
................................................................
They have been wrong before, and on this particular issue.
They had to change their guidelines when a court case showed that
their guidelines covered far more usage of CCTV than they should have
done, as you point out above.
But in this case, the law is quite explicit
----------------------------------------
36. Domestic purposes.Personal data processed by an individual only
for the purposes of that individual’s personal, family or household
affairs (including recreational purposes) are exempt from the data
protection principles and the provisions of Parts II and III.
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Police requirements for CCTV systems in the UK,from the Home Office web site.
Guidance for CCTV and Digital Systems
This document offers guidance to potential users of digital CCTV systems, where the pictures are likely to be used by the police or in an investigation.
Title: UK police requirements for digital CCTV Systems
Author: Home Office & Association of Chief Police Officers
Series: ps08 publication number 09/05
Date published: February 2005
Number of pages: 2
Availability: Download document  PDF 219Kb
For CCTV recordings to be effective in detecting and investigating crime they must be fit for purpose and easily accessible by police investigators. For digital CCTV there are 4 main areas that must be considered:
Quality - are the pictures good enough?
Storage - are the pictures stored appropriately?
Export - can the pictures be easily exported from the system?
Playback - can the pictures be easily viewed by authorised third parties?
Requirements
In order to ensure the evidential value of pictures, your CCTV system should meet the following requirements:
Quality - Are the pictures good enough?
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Before installing a CCTV system you should have a clear idea of what you want the system to do and how it should perform (e.g. recognise the face of someone walking through a doorway, or read a vehicle registration number). More detailed guidance on how to do this can be found in PSDB publication 17/94 CCTV Operational Requirements Manual.
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It should not be expected that enhancement features, such as zoom controls, would provide extra detail. If you can't see it then it's not fit for purpose.
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You should test the system using a volunteer etc.
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The quality of the recorded or printed pictures may differ from the live display.
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Ensure the time and date on the system is correct.
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The quality of the pictures should not be compromised to allow more to be squeezed onto the system.
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Regularly maintain all aspects of the system (e.g. camera focus, cleaning of lenses, etc).
Storage - Are the pictures stored appropriately?
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Access to the system and recorded images should be controlled to prevent tampering or unauthorised viewing.
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A record should be kept of who has accessed the system and when. Further information on this can be found in the BSI document 'Code of Practice for Legal Admissibility of Information Stored Electronically' (BIP0008) or from your local Crime Prevention Officer.
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Physical protection methods such as locked rooms are just as effective as electronic protection methods that require proprietary software or hardware. These can hinder the police's investigation.
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It is important that recordings are retained beyond 31 days if possible.
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It should be possible to protect specific pictures or sequences, identified as relevant to an investigation, to prevent overwriting before an investigator can view or extract them.
Export - Can the pictures be easily exported from the system?
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A trained operator and simple user guide should be available to assist the investigator in replay and export.
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Export of medium and large volumes of data can take a substantial period of time. The operator should know the retention period of the system and approximate times to export different amount data.
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If the software needed to replay the pictures is not included at export, the police may have trouble viewing it. Export of a system event log or audit trail, and any system settings with the pictures will help establish the integrity of the pictures and system.
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The system needs to be capable of exporting small or large amounts of video quickly without losing quality. An ideal solution for medium-to-large downloads, would be for the system to have the facility to export to a 'plug-and-play' hard drive.
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The system should not apply any compression to the picture when it is exported as this can reduce the usefulness of the content.
Playback - Can the pictures be easily viewed by authorities?
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The replay software must allow the investigator to search the pictures effectively and see all the information contained in the picture and associated with it.
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It should be possible to replay exported files immediately e.g. no re-indexing of files or verification checks.
Last update: Wednesday, September 20, 2006
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