An internal police report has raised major concerns about the deployment of public safety CCTV systems in Scotland.
The Police Scotland report, which was conducted in 2013 after eight regional police services were replaced by a single policing body called Police Scotland, expressed concerns over a lack of strategic direction, obsolete technologies, fragmentation across 32 local authorities and the potential for violation of data protection laws.
The internal report was made public following a freedom of information request and published by an investigative website called The Ferret.
It also underlined the crisis faced by public space CCTV in Scotland by observing “negligible strategic leadership … in respect of governance, capital and revenue purchasing power.”
And recommendations made in a 2009 report regarding poor maintenance and impending obsolescence were apparently not acted upon.
Five years on and 80% of CCTV cameras, 85% of matrices and 80% of transmission systems in Scotland were still analogue. If a matrix were to fail, warns the report, then all cameras could become inoperable.
The estimated cost of replacing analogue equipment and peripherals is estimated to cost about £9.7m.
The report also noted that internal audits necessary to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act were conducted by only 19 of 31 local authorities.
And concerns were expressed that control room operators might neglect their primary role of CCTV monitoring as they diversified into offering response services like intruder alarm to plug the gap left by funding cuts.
“All the local authorities who received revenue funding from legacy force areas have intimated that a financial contribution from the police is critical to maintain CCTV services,” says the report. “There continues to be no long-term funding strategies in place at the central or local government level to sustain the existing public space CCTV infrastructure.
“It is clear that the estimated current revenue spend for public space CCTV in Scotland of approximately £11m does not provide best value for the public purse. There is a clear lack of strategic leadership and accountability for delivering a fully coordinated service with minimum standards in relation to specification of equipment, performance measures, policy and procedures, and to compliance with current legislation and guidance.”
The report also made the following forecasts:
- All decisions on replacing analogue to digital must be made based on the stipulated set of standards agreed by the authorities
- Reliance on data connections and computer networks shall grow over time for sharing High Definition images
- As new solutions for compressing video and cloud storage arrive, the cost of storing high definition images will see a drop
- With processor efficiency and algorithms evolving rapidly, video analytics is also going to see higher market penetration
- With advanced technologies in recording media are making foray, the storage capacity of cameras is also expected to see new heights
- Number of camera installed may rise exponentially as wireless communication technologies advance over time.
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