CCTV User Group GUIDE FOR SMALL USERS. PRIVATE and COMMERCIAL

Transcription

1 CCTV User Group GUIDE FOR SMALL USERS PRIVATE and COMMERCIAL 1

2 CONTENTS Section Number Description Page number 1. Introduction 3 2. Human Rights Act and its implications for you 3 3. Data Protection and its implications for you Signs Control of your images 5 5. The Quality of your images 6 6. What do you want your system to do 7. The size of your images 9 Appendix A Video Tape Tracking Sheet 13 Appendix B Video Tape Tracking Plate 14 2

3 SECTION 1 : INTRODUCTION This guide is intended for those who use CCTV Cameras as an aid to their home security or to those in business who are using the smaller non-manned systems. It has been written to give you guidance on best practice for the use of the system in order to avoid being in the position of a Police Officer or other official telling you that the system being operated is of such poor quality or has images that will not be usable in evidence. It is intended to put the operation of CCTV Systems across to you in an easy understandable way rather than in technical terms or jargon. Please read this guide and make sure that your system is operating to its best performance and that the pictures obtained are clear and suitable for the purpose. SECTION 2 : HUMAN RIGHTS ACT Article 8 1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. 2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. SECTION 3 : DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998 The Data Protection Act 1998 provides rules for what you can and cannot do with CCTV images obtained from your camera or camera system. Private Householders. You do not have to register your system with the Office of the Information Commissioner. Businesses No matter how large your business is you will have to register with the Information Commissioner if you are using a CCTV camera or system that is monitored. In simple terms if you can answer No to the following questions your system does not require registration. Do you ever operate the cameras remotely to zoom in/out or point in one direction to pick up what particular people are doing? Do you ever use images to try and observe someone s behaviour for your own business purposes, such as monitoring staff members? Do you ever give the recorded images to anyone other than the Police? In other words if you only have a basic system that complies with the following Only has a small number of cameras The cameras can t be moved remotely 3

4 Just record on tape or disc whatever the cameras pick up Only give recorded images to the Police for investigation purposes Do not use the images for your own purposes i.e. watching staff Then you do not need to register if however you have said yes to any of these questions then you Do need to register. Registration can be done by contacting the office of the Information Commissioner by one of the following means ; Post :- Office of the Information Commissioner Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF Notification helpline Notification Fax Notification Dept. . data@notification.demon.co.uk Internet It will only take a little time in form filling and will cost and annual fee of SIGNS. Question. Do I need to display signs informing the public that I am using CCTV? Answer. Yes you do if they are positioned in any part of your business to which the public have access Question. What sort of sign do I need. Answer. Signs will be placed in the locality of the cameras. The signs will indicate: I. The presence of CCTV monitoring, II. The 'ownership' of the system, i.e. Company name or authority, and III. Contact telephone number of the Data controller. iv) The following statement:- Images are being monitored for the purposes of crime prevention and public safety 4

5 Produced below are two types of sign one showing the information required in word form and an alternative giving the information in picture form. CCTV in OPERATION Images are being monitored for the purposes of crime prevention and public safety. A.N.Other & Company Tel. No A.N.Other & Company Tel. No All personal data obtained, shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular, shall only be processed in the exercise of achieving the stated objectives of the system. In processing personal data there will be total respect for everyone s right to respect for his or her private and family life and their home. The storage and security of the data will be strictly in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and additional locally agreed procedures. Personal data will be kept no longer than is necessary. The Data Protection Act together with the Human Rights Act also state what images can be recorded and how to treat the tapes made of those recordings. It is not intended to outline these requirements in full within this document but if you follow the guidelines given in Section 4 Control of Your Images you will comply with the regulations. SECTION 4. Control of your Images The following recommendations are made so that your recordings comply with the Human Rights and Data Protection legislation and the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service on the use of tape recordings in evidence. You should have sufficient tapes or digital storage to record all incidents over a 31-day period. All recordings should have the accurate time and date recorded on the tape. Each tape should be indelibly marked with a unique identification number. All recordings should be kept for 31 days in a secure store. Digital recordings will need to be downloaded onto SVHS tapes if it is required to use them as evidence at Court. That tape will then become the master copy tape and should only be used to make one copy. 5

6 At the end of the 31 days tapes can be reused unless they are required as evidence in Court. All tapes required as evidence should be copied once and then should be sealed to secure them and only used again on the instructions of a Court. Any further copy tapes required for Court or evidential use should be taken from the first copy tape. A record should be kept of each tape in use showing the number of the tape, times dates etc that it has been used and the names of the operators using the tape. (sample appendix A) Each tape should have a label fixed to it on which to record the number of times it has been used and the signature of the operator. (sample appendix B) Tapes should only be used a maximum of 10 times and then they should be replaced. The images recorded should be maintained in a clear, usable condition, and as best quality as possible. A simple way to do this is to make a reference recording when the system is first installed and keep this as a permanent comparison tape that can be referred to at any time. Use this to compare the quality of the recordings at least once per month. Have a regular maintenance scheme that includes the cleaning of the tape heads and camera lenses. SECTION 5. QUALITY OF IMAGES 4 Examples of poor quality pictures that are not usable in evidence or even for you being able to observe staff in a business environment. Photograph 1 This shows the outside of a licensed premises from a camera situated above and to the left of the main entry door. The problem with it is that the lens has not been cleaned since the camera was installed (some 4 years) Camera lenses should be cleaned on a regular basis at least every two months. 6

7 Photograph 2 The inside of a licensed premises showing a view across the room with the bar to the left and windows in front of the camera. The licensee had installed the camera to identify those persons causing problems within the area of the bar and abusing his bar staff. Make sure that the camera installed will do what you want it to do. If you want to identify problem customers abusing staff, put the camera behind the staff facing the customer so that a face can be seen rather than in this example the back or side of the head. Try not to face the cameras from a predominantly dark area into a bright window as the iris will close down to accept the brightest area and make the rest of the viewing area very dark. x x x x x Photograph 3. The problem with this view is that if the photograph is studied the area across the screen marked by the line of crosses is distorted and would not give a usable image and again the picture is extremely dark which would make identification almost impossible. Keep the cameras maintained and adjusted correctly to give the brightest and clearest picture of your intended subject area. If you add a location for the camera to the information displayed on screen make sure it is accurate, this is a funny place to park a car! 7

8 Photograph 4. A view of the inside of a premises capturing all persons entering the building. The camera is well sighted to do this but the film is not usable as the camera is out of focus. Check the quality of images on a regular basis and ensure that the pictures are in focus and clear. Make sure also that the time and date is clearly displayed on the film and that it is accurate. 2 Examples of good quality usable images. Photograph 5 The main entry to a bank giving a clear view of all persons entering the counter area or using the automatic telling machine but positioned to maintain the privacy of the transactions on the ATM i.e. the actual use of the keyboard is hidden from the view of the camera. 8

9 Photograph 6 The main transaction area of a bank giving a clear view of all customers standing at the counter, sitting in the waiting area or entering the room. SECTION 6. WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR SYSTEM TO DO? Before you install your system you need to decide what you want your system to do, then make sure that what you install will meet that purpose. Do you want to monitor an area? Do you want to detect movement? Do you want to be able to recognise known people? Do you want to be able to identify unknown persons i.e. criminals? Not sure? then look at the photographs in the next section and decide what sort of picture you are looking for. A normal home or small business fixed focus camera will give you a choice of image size dependent on the lens fitted and can be installed to give any one of the sizes of image shown. If you wish to use your system to monitor an area but also have the capability to be able to use the system to identify any person detected then a fully operational pan, tilt and zoom camera will be needed. To be used effectively a pan, tilt and zoom camera will need to be watched at all times so that once movement is detected the object moving can be followed and the camera zoom in on it to enlarge the image to offer an identification sized image. Decide what you want your system to do, check that the cameras chosen will fit that purpose before you permanently install the system, and if it does then fully fit the cameras. 9

10 Once the system is fitted make a master comparison tape and keep,this in a safe place so that it can be compared with future recordings to ensure that your system does not deteriorate in quality over time. Remember the quality has to be maintained at the same level as the original installation quality to comply with the Data Protection Act principles, Principle 1 - lawfully and fairly and Principle 4 - accurately. All maintenance carried out on the system should be recorded in a log book. SECTION 7. SIZES OF IMAGE What sort of views do we need to use for what purpose? The following views have been taken to give an indication of the size of image being viewed and to give the reader an example of what it is designed to achieve. What you need to consider is the size of the person in view. Photograph 7. This is a MONITORING size image. This picture is generally used to indicate that there is movement in a large area such as a car park. All it enables you to do is see that there is a person or vehicle moving within the area. 10

11 Photograph 8 This is a DETECTION size image. An image of this size will enable you to see that a person is walking around within the area being viewed and will show some actions such as a fight or a brick being thrown. You will not see smaller details such as a car thief with a screwdriver being used as a door key for example. You will not be able to tell with certainty even the sex of any subject. Photograph 9 A RECOGNITION sized image 11

12 This size of image will give an idea of the sex of most subjects it will also give a little more detail of their actions to the extent that you can see the screwdriver type attack s on car doors along with the obvious items such as throwing bricks. Family members and friends of the subject may be able to recognise them. Police Officers may be able to recognise a very well known criminal. It is doubtful that these images would be acceptable in a Court as proving a defendants identity. Photograph 10 An IDENTIFICATION sized image. This is the size of image that gives good detail of actions by the person being viewed and gives a minimum size of image that will be acceptable by a Court as evidence of a persons identity. If you are able to get in even closer to photograph a persons face even better but this will only be possible using a fully operational camera. If you are using fixed cameras then any camera sited to look at a door or a customer standing at a till should have an image of this size and quality. 12

13 CCTV Video Tape Tracking Sheet Recording No USAGE ERASURE EVIDENTIAL TAPES INSERTED REMOVED Not Before ACTUAL COPY MADE By Time Date By Time Date Date By Time Date By Time Date OIC Reference No DESTRUCTION CERTIFICATE: TAPE IDENTIFICATION Serial No.: / / This tape was destroyed at :- One Sheet per Video Cassette Retain Sheet for 3 years after tape destruction Tape Make: Tape Number Time: Date: By: Batch No.: 13

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15 Appendix B Video Tape Tracking Plate 15