From 1 April 2023, the new North Yorkshire Council replaced the district council in Hambleton.
Introduction
The council is committed to the surveillance camera commissioners guidance and legal framework to ensure full lawful compliance.
Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires local authorities to consider the community safety implications of all their activities and functions. Section 17 says: “it shall be the duty of each authority to exercise its functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions and the need to do all that it reasonably can to prevent, crime and disorder in its area”. The Crime & Disorder Act 1998 provides the framework for the establishment of statutory Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs), giving lead responsibility for crime and disorder reduction to the police and local authorities, as well as a duty to consider crime and disorder in all their activity.
The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 introduced the regulation of public space surveillance cameras in England and Wales. As a result, the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice was issued by the Secretary of State under Section 30 of the Act to ensure that the use of cameras in public places are regulated and used only in pursuit of a specified purpose. The code aims to balance the need for cameras in public places with rights to privacy. The code applies to the use of surveillance camera systems that operate in public places in England and Wales. This regulation compliments existing legislation, such as the Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and the General Data Protection Regulations 2018.
The council operates a public open space CCTV with 87 public open space cameras in the following market towns:
- Northallerton
- Bedale
- Stokesley
- Thirsk
Further additional cameras are sited internally and externally at the Civic Centre in Northallerton and externally at the council's depot site. In total, there are 25 cameras working on the public open space surveillance system. All the cameras on the system are overt and easily identifiable.
There are also 31 cameras covering the council's crematorium near Thirsk and at the business centres in Northallerton and Stokesley.
The council operates a public space surveillance system with 60 CCTV space cameras in the following market towns:
- Northallerton: 29 plus two re-deployable cameras
- Bedale: 5
- Stokesley: 6 plus two re-deployable cameras
- Thirsk: 12 plus 4 re-deployable cameras
25 cameras are also sited internally and externally at the Civic Centre in Northallerton and externally at the council's depot site. All the cameras on the system are overt and easily identifiable.
The council operates a public open space surveillance system and also operates eight mobile re-deployable cameras which are sited in areas of anti-social behaviour hotspots or repeatedly targeted victims. Locations for siting the mobile re deployable cameras are agreed between the Safer Hambleton co-ordinator and North Yorkshire Police.
All the public open space cameras work on an auto touring pattern and record 24 hrs a day every day of the year. Whilst the cameras are not monitored on a 24hr basis, they are actively monitored by a team of operators throughout the week with the operators being in close contact with North Yorkshire Police always.
The principal partners in this CCTV scheme are the council and North Yorkshire Police. The council wholly funds the scheme whilst North Yorkshire Police contribute funds based on the number of reviews undertaken for investigations.
Background
Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 places a duty on local authorities to do all they reasonably can to prevent crime and disorder. Effective delivery against these concerns will lead to improvements in people’s quality of life as a result. Hambleton District Council has invested in the public open spaces system to ensure that it is contributing to the wellbeing of communities across Hambleton.
Management responsibility for the monitoring, operation and technical maintenance of the CCTV scheme is undertaken by the council's Safer Hambleton Hub. The system is owned and maintained by the council and a contracted service provider provides support and maintenance for the system throughout the year. The scheme is operated in compliance with the internally approved Hambleton District CCTV Code of Practice, which has been agreed with North Yorkshire Police.
The Code of Practice reflects the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and associated regulations and is refreshed bi-annually. Hambleton District Council is listed on the Data Protection Register of the Information Commissioner’s Office and the registration number is Z7559479.
Purpose of the Hambleton district public open surveillance system
The code details that the use of a surveillance camera system must always be for a specified purpose which is in pursuit of a legitimate aim and necessary to meet an identified pressing need.
The Codes of Practice state that the primary purpose of the scheme is to ensure public safety - providing a safe public environment in the Hambleton District for the benefit of those who live, trade, visit, service and enjoy the facilities of the area.
This is a legitimate aim and pressing need for the council.
In delivering its primary purpose, the CCTV surveillance system contributes to the following objectives, which are managed via proactive and reactive monitoring of the system and the use of the deployable cameras if required:
- assisting in the detection and prevention of crime and anti-social behaviour along with the maintenance of public order
- reducing the fear of crime and providing reassurance to the public
- providing the police and council with evidence to take criminal and / or civil action in the courts
- assisting in improving the environment in the areas monitored
- protecting property and assets owned by the council and others
- aiding emergency services
- aiding businesses in the areas where Stopwatch and Pubwatch operate
- providing monitoring and reassurance to Street Angels in Northallerton
The CCTV scheme is operated within applicable law and guidance and only for the purposes identified. The scheme will be operated with due regard to the privacy of the individual.
The scheme will not be used, for example, for traffic management or minor enforcement issues.
At a time when the resources of public bodies are stretched, the continued use of CCTV assists with reducing the fear of crime in our communities, increasing public confidence and helping to bring offenders to justice.
The council's CCTV scheme may also be used in relation to public safety. This situation could arise in the event of a major disturbance or a major event. There is provision within the council's own CCTV code of practice for a police inspector to utilise the monitoring suite if necessary. This assists the police with overseeing any such incident and determining the deployment of their resources.
Surveillance camera code of practice - review of cameras
The code requires schemes to be used for a specific purpose which is in pursuit of a legitimate aim and necessary to meet an identified pressing need. In addition, the use must take account of the effect on individuals and their privacy.
The council recognises that we must have due regard to privacy when installing and maintaining CCTV cameras. To this end, the council’s CCTV system includes privacy setting software that allows for parts of an image to be blanked out. This feature provides reassurance to residents that the scheme is designed to monitor public open space only and that the council takes concerns regarding privacy very seriously.
To try to ensure that people are aware there are cameras, CCTV signage is placed in all the areas where cameras are present. All the CCTV operatives are security industry trained and licensed and fully aware of privacy issues. The full list of cameras with privacy zones installed can be found in Appendix 1.
The code also details that a scheme must be managed by an individual and that this individual can be contacted in relation to complaints or queries about the system, including privacy issues. The council’s Safer Hambleton co-ordinator fulfils this role and this is publicised on the council’s website. Contact us for more information.
In accordance with the principles of the code, the council reviews its CCTV system regularly, but at least annually.
Appendix 2 is the summary of the most recent review undertaken, which takes account of these issues. This was conducted in April 2022 by the council’s Safer Hambleton co-ordinator. The review shows that all the locations are currently deemed to be appropriate. Additionally, it is not currently thought that there are any additional privacy issues. However, as stated, if any are raised, they will be dealt with appropriately. In addition, all the Data Protection Impact Assessments are shared on the council’s website.
Highlights from the operation of the system
Comparisons over the last three years will not give a like for like representation of the challenges faced by public services but do demonstrate the significant social change over that period.
Appendix 3 includes a table with some information about the incidents monitored or referred to the police for the year 2022 to 2023.
Incidents
Key incident highlights of CCTV use for the reporting period are:
- CCTV staff were involved in 1,656 incidents or observations over the year 2022 to 2023
- the number of incidents dealt with by the service increased slightly - by 1.25%
- 1,182 incidents were recorded within the Northallerton area
- 239 incidents were recorded in the Thirsk area
- 127 incidents were recorded in the Bedale area
- 105 incidents were recorded in the Stokesley area
- CCTV staff recorded 110 arrests by North Yorkshire Police
- 304 of the recorded incidents were identified by the operators themselves through their general monitoring
- retailers reported 122 incidents via the ShopWatch scheme - an upgrade at Thirsk leisure centre, disrupting scheme provision, has impacted the statistics - this has been rectified and should be reflected in the following year's annual report
PubWatch
PubWatch is up and running in the Northallerton area and monthly meetings continue. This scheme is fully supported by the Northallerton Business Improvement District. There has been some information sharing and several exclusions and banning orders have been initiated on certain individuals. The watch has recently started to report on the Disc crime recording app which is managed by the Northallerton Business Improvement District.
Thirsk is now setting up a PubWatch and the radio links have been re-established. This should be reflected in next year's report.
Reviews
354 reviews were carried out for North Yorkshire Police providing 205 discs and still images to support investigations.
CCTV staff spent 350.9 hours reviewing footage.
Concerns for safety
Besides observation requests for people or vehicles, concerns for safety accounted for the highest number of incident type across the Hambleton area with 210 incidents, followed by anti-social behaviour with 208 incidents and suspicious persons with 135 incidents.
Observation requests
CCTV staff were requested to keep observations for either vehicles, individuals or other crimes 711 times during their live monitoring periods.
ShopWatch
Our ShopWatch scheme has continued to support local retailers throughout and offers retailers the opportunity to hire a radio for £15 per month, giving them direct radio access into the CCTV control room. This allows them to alert operators immediately to any issues they may be experiencing including shop lifters, suspicious people, vehicles or other issues. Operators are then able to monitor any activity whilst specific incidents are reported to North Yorkshire Police.
There are currently 19 registered users on the Northallerton ShopWatch scheme and two on the Thirsk scheme. The Thirsk scheme is back up and running, and recruitment into the scheme is ongoing.
Monitoring details
The images from the council’s CCTV cameras are monitored in a specifically designed secure monitoring control room in the Hambleton district.
The images from all the cameras are being permanently recorded and these recordings are kept for 31 days before being deleted. Footage can be archived if it is being used by the police in relation to a specific case, however, when the footage is no longer needed, it is deleted.
The code details that access to retained images and information should be restricted and that there must be clearly defined rules on who can gain access and for what purpose such access is granted. The disclosure of images or information should only take place when it is necessary for such a purpose or for law enforcement purposes. The council’s CCTV Code of Practice is published on our website and details how and when images and information can be released to the police or senior management from the council.
Third party charging scheme
A charging structure for the provision of CCTV footage to third parties in connection with legal proceedings or for obtaining legal advice under s35 of the Data Protection Act was introduced in 2020 to enable to council to recover costs associated with processing these footage requests. The council has a duty to ensure that all relevant costs are recovered when these charges are set. If the council does not act upon this duty, it may be determined that the council is not carrying out their responsibilities in line with legislation.
The following charges were introduced for all s35 third party reviews from 1 September 2020 and remain the same for 2022/23:
- £50 search fee for all requests
- £50 flat rate fee for the provision of evidence
The prices will increase in April 2023 by 6% moving forward.
Maintenance
During Autumn 2020 the contract for maintenance services was re-tendered and awarded to Vizsec in early December. Vizsec are a specialist contractor and provide full maintenance to the system and will continue to provide services into 2022/23.
Complaints
The code details that system operators should also record and publish information in relation to any complaints it receives about CCTV. For the period of this report, no complaints were received.
Regulation of investigatory powers
During the period in question, no covert surveillance took place.
Future of the service
On 1 April 2023 the new unitary authority for North Yorkshire was created. The new council remains committed to the use of public space CCTV in helping to make our communities safer places to live, work and visit.
The CCTV service continues to demonstrate its valuable contribution to public safety by preventing crime through early intervention, helping to save life and protecting vulnerable people. There are more initiatives planned for 2022/23 to continue to support our communities and infrastructure.
Appendix 1
Appendix 1 includes details of all cameras operating in different areas in Hambleton.
