A CCTV code of practice should focus on usage policies, not deployment, an installer suggests.
The warning from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) that CCTV cameras should only be used ‘in response to a real and pressing problem’ (CCTV code of practice, Professional Security 21.10.14) is short-sighted, suggests James Hill, pictured, the electronic security sales manager at NG Bailey’s IT Services division. He writes:
As CCTV migrates to networked-IP, its versatility goes through the roof. From a pure-play security perspective, IP-CCTV can integrate with other vital systems, like physical access and site floodlighting, to create an automated and centralised system that increases both the safety of personnel and the security of a site’s assets. But that’s just the start. IP-CCTV is an enabler for intelligent building management; it gives sight to other control systems like air conditioning, heating, machine fault monitoring, fire and emergency response and hazard control. As a result, incident response times and maintenance pressures on staff can be reduced. The ICO’s insistence that CCTV should be deployed only when there is a ‘real and pressing problem’ misses this point entirely.
What’s more, right around the corner is a world where analytics can mine ‘arbitrary’ CCTV footage to identify trends that help public and private sector organisations improve their management of transport services, public spaces, hospitals, commercial buildings, stadia, shopping centres and all manner of other high footfall areas, avoiding congestion by re-routing human traffic in real time, for example. Trend exceptions will also alert a supervisor to any identified abnormalities, which could provide the extra minutes needed to turn the reactive work of today into the preventative work of tomorrow.
None of this will be possible if IP-CCTV operators are unable to install, integrate and activate their systems freely. If the ICO is concerned about the misuse of CCTV-data it should focus on the creation of appropriate usage policies, not on deployment restrictions. CCTV is no longer a single-use grudge purchase, it’s a Swiss army knife of organisational potential. Curbing deployment and activation with sledgehammer codes of practice will do far more harm than good.
