A company director and CCTV operative were found working illegally without SIA licences when investigators from the Security Industry Authority targeted CCTV monitoring suites across the north of England on Tuesday, May 10.
The purpose of Operation Norfolk was to visit CCTV remote monitoring companies across Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Cleveland and Northumbria to ensure that CCTV operatives and those employing them were working legally by holding an SIA licence. Investigators visited 17 companies and inspected 37 people, including CCTV operatives, their managers and company directors. 35 operatives were licensed correctly.
The director of a Lancashire-based company and a CCTV operative at this firm were found to be unlicensed. After speaking to the unlicensed individual, details given to investigators indicated that up to five other employees, who were not on duty at the time, may also be unlicensed.
In West Yorkshire, one CCTV operative was issued with warning for failing to display their licence, a breach of licence conditions, as it had been left at home.
SIA Head of Investigation Neil Diamond said: “The unlicensed individuals worked for the same company and initial enquiries suggest that the director and his employees are unlicensed. We will be carrying out work with this company to ensure they fulfil their legal obligations as failure to do so could lead to prosecution.
“Operation Norfolk was different to our usual CCTV compliance checks where we inspect operatives on duty at retail or industrial sites. During these inspections, we only targeted monitoring suites based in the offices of security companies.
“Trained, qualified and SIA-licensed security staff help to maintain public safety. It is therefore important that we carry out a range of visits on companies, sites and individuals to ensure that they are working legally.” Information about enforcement can be found here:
