Thanet Council Recognised for CCTV Use

Thanet District Council gets certified for CCTV, body worn video and ANPR surveillance cameras.

08:34 02 May 2020

Thanet District Council has become one of the first UK local authorities to be certified by the Surveillance Camera Commissioner for the use of CCTV, body-worn video (BWV) and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) surveillance cameras. 

 

The third-party certification is awarded to public and private organisations that are able to clearly and satisfactorily demonstrate compliance with the surveillance camera code of practice. This is particularly important for local authorities due to their legal obligation to the public. It assures residents that surveillance cameras are used effectively, efficiently and proportionately to support them and not to spy on them. 

 

Kim Burgess, CCTV Control Centre Supervisor, said: "As both the manager and myself were both relatively new to the department, there was an opportunity to check that what we had implemented fitted the legal requirements. It was initially a suggestion from the Head of Service and once investigated further, it showed this was a good move for us to take, this also assists with the Department's Values with the authority. Being a non-statutory department anything that shows we are doing the job well assists." 

 

She explained: "We applied for all three (CCTV, BMV and ANPR) as our own codes of practice include all three - it made sense for us. All the systems are monitoring members of the public so having them all receive the mark can help inform people that we use them in accordance with the legal requirements set out in the code of practice."

 

She added: "Certification marks showing compliance give an overall feeling of achievement to the department staff, to the council and the councillors. I'd strongly recommend local authorities to consider certification for the various surveillance camera systems they operate."