Given the fact that I pride myself on punctuality, last Monday morning I deliberately set off in good time to make the 10.30 am gathering at North Lanarkshire CCTV’s Control Room which would see manager Emma Walker and designer Ian Budd receive CameraWatch’s first-ever Platinum Level 1 certification for total compliance with the Data Protection Act.
A bus ride from my South Lanarkshire home, two train journeys and a short stint in a taxi later, I arrived at the North Lanarkshire CCTV Control Room building at the same time as Paul Mackie (CameraWatch’s DPA compliance director) and Sheila Logan (operations and policy manager for the Information Commissioner’s Office in Scotland).
Once beyond initial security checks and signing on the Register’s dotted line, we met up with Emma Walker, the Belfast-born Control Room manager, and began to talk about ‘issues of the day’ (which, for two Rangers fans, meant that Paul and I also contemplated this Sunday’s CIS Cup Final clash with St Mirren at Hampden Park).
Sheila Logan mentioned that she’d be off to Haddington later in the week, at which point I mentioned she might like to drop in on the former lead singer of ‘Scottish Heavy Metal band’ Marillion. “Oh, you mean Fish!” said Sheila. I did indeed, and congratulated her on an obvious knowledge of progressive rock music as well as data protection!
Looking at a trip to Delhi
Just around the corner, in the open plan office space/Viewing Room that sits alongside North Lanarkshire CCTV’s Control Room, were a few fellow early attendees. One of them being Yash Patel, a stalwart of this industry and long-time driver – through his fabulous work at JVC – for improved standards across the surveillance board.
Yash is always great company, and last Monday morning continued that trend. At present, ‘Mr CCTV’ – a term of endearment used by many in the sector when the talk brings Yash into the equation – is concentrating on the Indian CCTV market space (he’s travelling back out to his base in Delhi next week, in fact) where he’s about to begin work as JVC’s general manager for the region.
Ever the enthusiast, Yash – whose company is a member and prime supporter of the CameraWatch organisation, of course – was quick to tell me about the fact that the North Lanarkshire CCTV Control Room boasts numerous and huge JVC-supplied screens (12 of them, in fact, which can be rendered as ‘split display’ if operators so desire).
By the time Yash and I had finished chatting and taken a quick dart into the Control Room space proper – which, let me tell you, is the finest Control Room space I’ve seen in over a decade of working on SMT – it was time for the formal proceedings to begin.
CameraWatch’s chairman Gordon Ferrie – who’d turned up en masse with the organisation’s chairman Pat Curran and Tom Hogg, a consultant with ADT and non-executive director of CameraWatch – then kicked off proceedings at 10.45 am sharp. Frankly, I’d expect nothing less than punctuality from this highly intelligent and dedicated former senior Strathclyde policeman and worldwide head of security at the RBS Group.
Praise for the Home Office minister
Alas, Ferrie began by informing us all that, sadly, Tom Harris – the Labour MP for Glasgow South – was unable to be with us, so too Ann McKechin, the Labour MP representing Glasgow North.
“They have been instrumental in highlighting to Westminster the very issues we’re gathered here today to highlight,” said Ferrie, who also mentioned the effective work being done by crime and policing minister David Hanson at the Home Office.
Ferrie continued: “I can categorically state that CCTV is on the move. It was the DNA of its day, and remained constant for years, but it has certainly travelled on a huge journey across the last three decades.”
The former Fraud Squad director and deputy head of the CID at Strathclyde Police then bemoaned the fact – as do many in this industry, including Alun John at Norbain – that, somehow, surveillance has become a dirty word. “The British public has had a love-late relationship with CCTV. This has only intensified of late on those occasions when the gathering and storage of information has caused problems following a data loss.”
Although CameraWatch fully supports CCTV, what it does not support is non-compliant CCTV. “Good CCTV images are captured on a daily basis by many Control Room operators,” suggested Ferrie, “and are more than fit for purpose in a Court of Law, but there’s a gathering storm involving inferior images that are only fit for disposal. The list of reasons as to why that’s happening is almost endless.”
Level of non-compliance is astonishing
Research results published back in 2006 stated that over 4,000 CCTV systems in the UK were non-compliant (in some shape or form) in respect of the Data Protection Act. This was subsequently supported by a police/Home Office missive explaining that 80% of all systems were still “far from ideal” from a police service perspective.
“We at CameraWatch firmly believe that criminals are now escaping prosecution due to a lack of understanding, and the incorrect management, of CCTV systems,” asserted Ferrie. “If a system’s deemed to be illegal because it has failed to comply with the DPA, that might mean the images captured and submitted could well be rejected by the Judge.”
On that basis, and not surprisingly, Ferrie and Co are highly supportive of annual CCTV audits (as recommended by the ICO Code of Practice, also known to Ferrie as ‘the Bible of CCTV’). Such audits have to be the way forward, particularly so given the fact that an estimated 60,000 cameras are now being controlled by 419 local authorities.
Without regular checks, there’s an awful lot of scope for things to go wrong and, given there’s now one camera for every 1,000 people in the UK, it’s absolutely vital the use of public space CCTV is tightly controlled to prevent public data misuse.
As an organisation, CameraWatch is always striving to raise standards in the CCTV arena and, that being the case, the Board decided to take a quantum leap last year and introduce its Platinum Award for Data Protection Act compliance.
“North Lanarkshire CCTV Ltd immediately acted in a very positive way,” explained Ferrie, “and, over the last six months, a partnership was put in place to ensure full Data Protection Act compliance. My congratulations to Emma, Paul Mackie, Ian Budd and all of the team here. Through CameraWatch’s discussions with the ICO and Scottish and Westminster Government officials, we know that changes to CCTV legislation are coming. It’s essential that public confidence in systems like this one here at North Lanarkshire is retained and, by being complaint with the DPA, that’s a massive step in the right direction.”
With 29 other public space schemes to bring into line north of the border, Ferrie is desperately keen to see “that extra C brought into CCTV. Compliant CCTV.”
A few words from the director
Maureen McConachie – the head of regeneration services and director of North Lanarkshire CCTV – also said a few words after expressing her delight at receiving the CameraWatch Award following what had been “a challenging audit”.
The engaging and charming McConachie said: “Over the last couple of years, North Lanarkshire CCTV has gone through considerable and ambitious change, centralising all monitoring services to this purpose-built Control Room. It was an ambitious programme of change, aimed at modernising the service and the ways in which we work. I’m pleased that not only have we established a flagship Control Room, but we’re also now the first company to have achieved the Platinum Level 1 Award from CameraWatch.”
McConachie added: “We are fortunate enough to have very experienced and qualified members of staff in the company who have achieved a number of key results with the CCTV network, and I would like to thank all members of the team, including Emma and our specialist services manager Ian Budd, for their continued hard work in raising operational practices and standards to new levels.”
From McConachie’s perspective, Walker has raised the bar thanks to the introduction of new personnel practices, while Budd has delivered a Control Room working environment that, as I said, really is second to none (a view echoed by Pat Curran in his short speech to the audience).
In addition, McConachie praised Strathclyde Police for its “continued support of, and commitment to the service” (three dedicated police liaison officers are on secondment to the facility).
“With over 300 public space cameras in our network,” concluded McConachie, “we have been entrusted with many, many public images. We have taken our legal responsibilities seriously, and I hope that achieving this accreditation goes some way towards increasing public confidence in CCTV and its usefulness when it comes to boosting community safety.”
That’s important when you’re talking about any local authority jurisdictional area, even more when it’s the fourth largest in the entire country.
Continuing The Surveillance State Debate
Following the formal presentation of the certificate, a short Q&A was played out. I asked the first question, which centred on ‘The Surveillance State’, and this was answered in some detail by both Paul Mackie and Gordon Ferrie. Very interesting answers they were, too.
Then it was time for Emma Walker to give me a guided tour of the Control Room and the ‘back office’ (where the operators’ break-out area complete with Internet access, meeting space and kitchen – as well as the servers, UPS back-up systems and Denco air conditioners – are housed).
Emma’s just the type of manager this industry needs. Young, enthusiastic, bubbly, a human dynamo committed to the cause of serving the public good. “This space is all about making the operators feel comfortable,” she enthused. Soft focus purple lighting and huge and very relaxing artworks all contribute to a welcoming ambience conducive to productive working.
Operators, Emma kindly informed me, work 12-hour shifts, monitoring a number of sites including retail parks, local shops (for which there’s a dedicated Radiolink network as part of the ShopMobility initiative) and schools, etc. All of this monitoring – including that for seven town centres and 15 housing areas – is ably supported by a dedicated Telewest Business network and Bosch’s VIDOS control system.
Back in the Control Room, there are eight operator stations. “It’s usually the case that we require more resources at night,” explained Walker, “as a rule between about 7.00 pm and 3.00 am. As you can imagine, we often face a range of issues. Aside from pure security, we also assist the local authorities by informing them about incidents of vandalism at, for example, bus shelters, where damage can be a danger to the public.”
That being the case, you need qualified staff to respond. All of the staff operational in the North Lanarkshire CCTV Control Room are SIA licensed. “We made sure we went through that process before we had to,” urged Walker, “and now I’m looking to secure Investors in People as well, probably at some point this coming summer.”
Emma was later described to me by John Rilley MBE – pretty much the ‘Godfather’ of North Lanarkshire CCTV, a former headmaster and resident of Coatbridge all his life – as being “without parallel” when it comes to managing the facility and looking after a team totalling 27 members of staff. That’s very high praise indeed and, in my view, totally merited.
100% compliance: 100% of the time
Having taken all the photos I needed to take, we were ushered into a small side room for luncheon. I had a quick chat with Dean Brazenall – Samsung Techwin’s strategic business development manager – and we reminisced over the company’s magnificent 2010 Vision Day which we attended in Antalya, Turkey only a few short weeks ago.
Before departing, we were privy to a telling few words from Mr Ferrie. “What we’re honouring here today sets the standard. However, 100% compliance today with the Data Protection Act does not mean 100% compliance, say, a month from now. All CCTV Control Room operations must strive to attain that percentage compliance at all times.”
I had half an hour or so to kill before boarding the train back to Rutherglen via Motherwell. What better way to spend it than with a cup of tea, I thought, so I made a travel beeline for some local shops where I gleefully stumbled upon Joe’s Kitchen.
As it turned out, I sat and sipped a can of Coke at the one table inside Joe’s modest but hugely welcoming emporium. Another Coatbridge man since the day he was born, Joe took me through the town’s changing landscape across the years, bemoaning the fact that all the steelworks had been shut down on a progressive basis since the heady days of the 1960s.
“Ravenscraig was still turning a profit when the Government closed it down,” said a misty-eyed Joe, by now leaning over his deli bar in a rather resigned position.
“Do you know, son, we used to make the biggest chain links ever here. The ones they used to use in the shipyards. Those were the days, they were.”
Joe… If you ever happen to read this article, let me just say that people like you are the very salt of the Earth. You’re a typical Scot… Friendly, welcoming, trusting and – rightly – supremely proud of your very fine heritage.
Oh yes. You make a mean lorne sausage butty, too!
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