West Berkshire Council signs new surveillance policy

UK local authorities are looking at people’s social media accounts as part of their intelligence gathering and investigation tactics.

Covert surveillance isn’t something that immediately springs to mind when thinking of the largely soft and woolly West Berkshire Council.

But local authorities have powers to authorise directed surveillance, however only to prevent or detect certain types of crime.

These include crimes with a maximum penalty of six months or more.

So that means they all have policies in place to cover them.

West Berkshire is no exception and it has just put through its latest updated approach to such things.

There are three types of surveillance techniques available to the council.

They are the acquisition and disclosure of communications data (such as telephone billing information or subscriber details), directed surveillance (covert surveillance of individuals in public places), and covert human intelligence sources (CHIS) (such as the deployment of undercover officers).

West Berkshire Council uses ANPR systems within some of its car parks to read number plates, and also for traffic enforcement.

Surveillance powers can only be accessed by local authorities for the purpose of ‘prevention and detection of crime and the prevention of disorder’ and are subject to both internal oversight through specifically trained authorising officers and then ultimately judicial oversight by the Magistrates Court.

The council’s policy says when CCTV is installed in a workplace, such as an office, it is likely to capture pictures of employees, even if they are not the main subject of surveillance.

If the purpose of the CCTV is solely to prevent and detect crime, then it should not be used for monitoring the amount of work done or compliance with company procedures.

The council has installed closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) in the reception and customer contact area of its Market Street offices, although there is no openly available data on where else it has them.

There is a CCTV system at Newbury Wharf installed in fixed positions to cover public areas in order to provide additional security for members of the public and transport users.

Back in 2015, West Berkshire Council announced that 20 of its 21 CCTV cameras were now working, following the transfer of the CCTV control room at Newbury to Windsor and Maidenhead the previous year.

The use of cameras involves the issue of a privacy notice.

For example, at Newbury Wharf the privacy notice says that CCTV cameras have been installed in fixed positions to cover public areas in order to provide additional security for members of the public and transport users.

The data will be used to provide the police, HMRC and other authorised authorities with information (upon request) in relation to detecting or preventing crime.

“The information we collect will not be used for any other purpose,” promises the council, which also uses the cameras for traffic violations.

So who sees the stuff?

The data from the public security cameras is viewed and collected by a compnay called Century, which has been commissioned by the council to run the service and is an accredited provider of such services.

Data will be released to authorised authorities/services such as the police and fire services in response to legitimate requests that can be demonstrated in the interests of detection and prevention of crime or ensuring public safety.

Data from the traffic management cameras will be viewed by employees of the council’s highways team to enable correct use of the traffic side of the facility.

Processing of personal data (in the form of images of drivers, or their vehicles) is undertaken by West Berkshire Council acting in the public interest.

The council considers it proportionate to balance the right to absolute privacy of data subjects with the need to provide a safe and secure environment in public areas and to assist with minimising antisocial behaviour and crime.

The council says it has carefully considered the angling of cameras to ensure that they only focus on the public areas of the bus station at the Wharf.

Over the last 25 years councils have made a considerable investment in surveillance camera systems.

Often this has been due to local demand for the introduction of CCTV cameras to address concerns about crime and disorder.

As time and technology have progressed the ways in which surveillance cameras can be used has diversified, with some councils looking to use CCTV to address alcohol-related crime and disorder and increase the safety of passengers and drivers of taxis and private hire vehicles.

Others have installed systems in council facilities to reassure users, with systems monitoring libraries and leisure centres, as well as being installed in council offices and town halls.

Covert surveillance requires a magistrate’s approval and can only be conducted for specific crimes, such as those punishable by at least six months’ imprisonment.

Councils in the UK use surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000.

All surveillance must be necessary, proportionate, and justified, requiring magistrate approval for covert methods.