In the latest Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s case study published on 30 September 2015, the CCTV News Desk has learnt how…..

Huntingdonshire District Council and Cambridge City Council have introduced a single point of contact (SPOC) for all CCTV issues.

Martin Beaumont, CCTV manager of a shared service for Huntingdonshire District Council and Cambridge City Council said:

“We’ve introduced a single point of contact (SPOC) for all CCTV issues – in Cambridge that’s me. I act as the main contact point for anything related to CCTV and have been able to introduce organisation CCTV policies and procedures. I can also ensure that any staff across the organisation operating CCTV are properly trained, keep them up to date on changes to legislation and help them develop.”

He explained..

“There’s continued interest in all things CCTV, public bodies who fail to grasp this nettle are leaving themselves wide open to all sorts of risk and none of us can afford that. So public bodies should be doing everything they can to protect themselves from the risks. A simple way of doing this is by appointing a CCTV SPOC and it is a solution I would recommend all public bodies to consider,” added Beaumont.

We asked an industry expert their thoughts on appointing a SPOC…

“Having a SPOC is an ideal scenario for any organization as it means they are more likely to be working with the CCTV Code of Practice and therefore compliant with the Data Protection Act but some establishments may struggle with the costs or resources associated with its provision or upkeep. For those on a budget, simple solutions such as the WhoIsWatchingMe range of signage that allow a single contact to be registered in an on-line database as the SPOC can help towards this goal.”

For more information visit:
www.whoiswatchingme.org