In the security profession, the basic Public Space Surveillance CCTV Operator qualification is taken to a Level 2 standard through various Awarding Bodies, including Edexcel. Having been a trainer for over 15 years and taught on CCTV courses since 2006, I’ve always tried to provide students with a little more knowledge than is stipulated by the syllabus.
To produce a good CCTV operator, knowledge of the law, Data Protection, Health and Safety, British Standards and more besides is essential and, at the same time, indispensable. However, what some trainers forget is the need for teaching CCTV operators how to identify crime and criminals – if possible, before a crime has been perpetrated.
We can employ the most sophisticated CCTV technology in the world, but without well-trained operators it’s of little use. At best, it’s a post-investigation tool. There are many excellent CCTV training companies in existence, but some surveillance trainers don’t – or simply cannot – teach their pupils how to spot crime and criminal activity, simply because of their lack of operational CCTV experience.
One of the problems lies in the fact that proving ‘sector competence’ to be able to teach CCTV can – in some cases – merely involve having worked in the CCTV sector for a number of years and gaining an appropriate training qualification along the way. However, the CCTV system used may have been covering an area where crime rarely happens. That being the case, what sort of experience can these ‘trainers’ realistically hope to pass on?
For my part, I was fortunate enough to have served – albeit for a short period of time – as a constable in the Metropolitan Police Service. We were given both the training and the time to go out on to the streets and catch criminals. Believe me, the experience that I gained in spotting crime and criminal activity has many parallels with the skills required of a modern day town centre CCTV operator.
Most importantly, perhaps, I was fortunate enough to be under the tutelage of a great detective sergeant, who once said to me: “You don’t see what you’re not looking for”. When training CCTV operators to spot criminal activity, this should be our mantra.
At NCP Services’ Centre for Training Excellence, we teach the BTEC Level 2 CCTV qualification, and I’m fortunate enough to be able to give students the necessary time to show them more than just the theory behind CCTV. We teach our students how crimes are committed, how criminals act, about body language, displacement activity, hostile reconnaissance and the recognition of crime ‘hot spot’ areas.
We’re constantly told that we in the security profession are part of the Wider Police Family, but if we don’t give CCTV operators this level of knowledge, and engender enthusiasm for the role, then we’ll have a situation where security staff are just ‘watching TV’. They might – and most probably will – miss vitally important activity and evidence.
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