Draft27-12

Talking about a revolution
Background
Briefly, arising from the
Protection of Freedoms
Act, Tony Porter (whose
three-year term as
Commissioner was
extended this year for
another three by the
Home Office) reports
annually to Parliament;
and in March brought out
the national surveillance
camera strategy for
England and Wales.
Above: Dennis Judd.
Below right; at the
Association of Security
Consultants stand, Aidan
Anderson after speaking
in the conference on risk
69
The Security TWENTY 17
London conference heard that
we’re in the ‘foothills of a
new revolution in video surveillance’.
That was the view of the opening
speaker, the Surveillance Camera
Commissioner Tony Porter. A returner
speaker to ST events, he gave a
progress report on his office’s work
and urged the mixed audience of
manufacturers, installers and security
end users to download his national
strategy from his website.
No pixels up noses
Why a strategy? As he set out in
an interview with Professional
Security in April, on the strategy’s
launch, the aim is to make – and
show – that surveillance is legitimate,
proportionate, transparent and for
keeping people safe; rather than
‘sticking one million pixels up
the noses’ of citizens. Besides the
millions (estimated: six million) of
CCTV cameras, there are bodyworn
cameras (typically by police
and door staff); drones; automatic
number plate recognition, as used by
police and by private operators, as
in car parks; dash-cams; and video
analytics. “Actually, I think we are
in the foothills of a new revolution
of video surveillance as it links into
integrated technology and the key
there is integrated.”
How it applies
He started by setting out his work,
overseeing compliance to the code
of practice for surveillance cameras.
DECEMBER 2017 PROFESSIONAL SECURITY
While he does not have power of
sanctions (fining people for not
keeping to the code), as he noted, he
does have the power to threaten to
name and embarrass those that don’t
comply. Tony Porter, a former senior
policeman, took the audience through
some of the 11 ‘strands’ of the
strategy, that covers civil engagement;
police and local government (who
are required to comply with the code
of practice; for other CCTV users,
it’s voluntary); and how it applies
to installers, manufacturers and end
users alike. As an example of how the
Commissioner has sought to enforce
compliance with the code of practice,
he described how letters and urgings
to local authorities had brought about
a 93pc compliance from councils; and
a 95pc response from police forces
in England and Wales: “The tanker is
turning in terms of compliance,” he
told the conference at the Park Inn,
Heathrow.
Anti-bad-surveillance
Describing himself as a ‘retired senior
cop’, whose anti-terrorism work
had included the London Olympics,
he repeated his view that he was
not anti-surveillance; but he was
‘anti-bad-surveillance’. He wants
surveillance products used correctly;
and well-sited; rather than the wrong
kit bought; and as for video analytics,
he argued it should used not because
you can, but because you should. As
examples of progress he spoke of (in
the local authorities and police strand
of the strategy) how police are not
admitting they don’t give feedback
to councils, whose CCTV systems
provide police with evidence for
crime investigations; and councils not
understanding kpis (key performance
indicators). As Tony Porter added,
that councils in times of austerity are
struggling to raise the £200-300,000
to refresh their kit, is ‘a real issue for
manufacturers’.
Mind the gap
On training, where Tony Porter saw
manufacturers and installers’ interests
as linked, he spoke of a ‘gap analysis’
to move towards harmony. On
installers, the standards lead is Alex
Carmichael, the chief of the SSAIB
(the inspectorate one of the exhibitors
at the ST17 London exhibition
alongside the conference). Tony
Porter said: “The charge I have given
to Alex is I would like a standards
framework not just for the end users.”
In the manufacturers’ strand, the
lead Simon Adcock (among other
things the vice-chairman of the BSIA
and due to become chairman of
the trade association in July 2018)
is developing a buyers’ tool. Tony
stressed that he was driving standards
up: “That was the mission the
Government gave me.” As technology
advances, as he put it, ‘at the speed
of light’, the downloadable selfassessment
tool on the Surveillance
Camera Commissioner’s website
not only covers the functions of a
public space camera system, but when
it’s combined with video analytis,
facial recognition, car number plate
recognition or gait analysis. Hence
the strategy strand of ‘horizon
scanning’, to give insight into what
the future of surveillance looks like.
His parting message; the Surveillance
Camera Commissioner and his tools
and regulation are not going away;
he’s co-ordinating the industry; ‘and
there’s a lot of exciting stuff coming
down the line’.
And GDPR
One example of that was aired in the
question from the floor by Irish visitor
Donie O’Callaghan, who asked about
the general data protection regulation
(GDPR) which is coming into force
across the European Union from May
2018 – including Britain, regardless
of the 2016 Brexit vote – and which
updates data protection law, and
CCTV falls under data. In reply Tony
Porter pointed to his recent signing
of a memorandum of understanding
with the Information Commissioner,
Elizabeth Denham (briefly; the
MoU covers the sharing of relevant
information and the delivery of their
statutory functions on data privacy).
Tony Porter noted that under GDPR
the Information Commissioner
has powers to give large fines to
offenders. p
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