Peter Fry, chairman of The CCTV User Group, told SMT: "The Group is in favour of regulating public area CCTV systems because, in the past, there have been too few checks on either system quality or operational procedures.
"With the next stage of the Data Protection Act, operators will be forced to provide data to members of the public. There could be considerable cost implications for operators when this policy is enforced."
Members of the public will be charged GB pound 10 for what’s known as a ‘subject access request’. CCTV managers will therefore have to consider additional staff costs and processing time.
Come this October, compliance will be enforced for any systems that have been operational since the tail end (October) of 1998 (all systems installed since then are already covered by the terms of the Act).
Fry added: "There is a wide diversity in terms of the quality of operational CCTV systems out there, and time is running out for owners to comply with the terms of the Act."
The Act requires operators to pay attention to several procedures, including how long they keep video tapes, and how they ensure a tamper-free evidence trail for tapes used in police proceedings.
