by Brianna Crandall — November 23, 2015—BSI, the U.K.-based business standards company, has revised its BS 7958:2015 Closed circuit television (CCTV) – Management and operation – Code of practice. The changes take into account the introduction of the CCTV Code of Practice issued by the U.K.’s Surveillance Camera Commissioner (SCC).
Closed circuit television (CCTV) programs provide the public with added reassurance that the environment in which they have the “right to visit” is safe and protected. However it is crucial for them to have confidence that surveillance cameras are being used to protect and support them, rather than spy on them. The government considers that wherever overt surveillance in public places is used it shall be in pursuit of a legitimate aim and meets a pressing need.
CCTV systems are set up in public places such as:
- Areas where the public is encouraged to enter, such as town centers, shopping malls, public transport, educational and health establishments, etc.
- Systems that overlook a public place, such as public footpaths, roads, bridle-ways for traffic monitoring, and traffic enforcement
- Private systems where a camera view includes a partial view of a public place
CCTV systems that process personal data are obliged to conform to certain legislation such as the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
BS 7958 is designed to supplement this legislation, and aims to ensure fairness, purpose and responsibility. For a public-space CCTV system to be in use, a Security Industry Authority (SIA) license is required, except when monitoring for traffic offences.
Anne Hayes, head of Market Development for Governance and Risk at BSI, noted that the U.K.’s Surveillance Camera Commissioner has already endorsed the use of this suite of CCTV standards for systems that need to follow the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice.
BS 7958 will be part of the best practice guidance for all local authority monitoring centers, police CCTV control rooms, and all private-industry CCTV control rooms.
What BS 7958 does:
- Provides a set of a code of practice for public space CCTV systems, taking due regard of the 12 principles of the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice
- Gives recommendations for the management and operation of CCTV within a controlled environment, where data that might be offered as evidence is received, stored, reviewed or analyzed
- Offers advice on best practice to assist owners in obtaining reliable information that can be used as evidence
- It applies to the monitoring and management of public spaces, including automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and traffic enforcement cameras
- Includes the operation and management of body worn cameras
- Pays attention to the Private Security Industry Act 2001, which contains provisions for regulating the private security industry
