Agenda item

This report is to give members the opportunity to consider the Councils strategy around its CCTV network

Andy Stocker, Street Czar gave a presentation and provided an overview of the Council’s strategy for its CCTV network and its plans to expand CCTV coverage, particularly on housing estates. The Council was also expanding its general street level coverage east on Hammersmith Road and Lillie Road, and south into the Imperial Road regeneration area. Over the last financial year (2017/18) the Council installed 8 new public space CCTV cameras, 160 new housing estate cameras and 30 new deployable cameras. He showed slides that outlined the future expansion plans for 2018/19. There were plans to install CCTV in 6 new housing estates, 2 housing estate digital upgrades and 10 new deployable cameras.

Partnership working with the Metropolitan Police was essential to the number of arrests made in 2017/2018. 508 people were arrested in the borough that would have not been without the CCTV operators working jointly with the Police. Local Police teams at Hammersmith Police station had full access to live and recorded CCTV images – this allowed the Police to investigate crimes on the borough more swiftly. Furthermore, the Council was exploring opportunities for different types of technologies that would speed up response times and overall increase the number of arrests made.

Councillor Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler asked for clarification around the implementation date for the digital upgrade at Fulham Court. In response, Andy Stocker said this would take place in 2019 (Q1).

Councillor Victoria Brockbank-Fowler said that she was impressed by the work that was being carried out by officers and the Police around the Council’s CCTV network and asked if residents had approached the Council directly for CCTV to be installed in public streets. Andy Stocker noted that a street map, highlighting all the CCTV installations within the borough was available upon request. He explained that the Council had little CCTV on residential streets as it was challenging to justify the implementation of camera’s down side streets due to practicality and legal reasons. In addition, it was noted that the legislation relating to private land and public streets was different.

A resident asked if he could install a CCTV at the front of his house due to some ongoing issues he was experiencing on his street. Andy Stocker noted that there was a tool kit available online that could be installed. Furthermore, he needed to adhere to certain principles and would require the permission of his landlord to proceed with the implementation. Councillor Sue Fennimore asked that the resident discussed this further with Andy Stocker and Claire Rai outside of the meeting to resolve this matter.

Councillor Iain Cassidy, referring to page 17 of the agenda pack asked for clarification around who the third part links were. Andy Stocker explained that they were partners such as Westfield London, Professional Football Clubs, Housing Associations, and Charring Cross Hospital. He explained that their CCTV network would feed into the Council’s operator, working in collaboration to improve response times and tackle crime.

Councillor Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler asked how many people were present in the control room at one time. Andy Stocker said that there were two operators watching the screens in the control room each day. The control room was often used as a base for running Police operations. Police officers co-located with the Council team, combing their knowledge with the CCTV operator’s camera skills to target offenders. Furthermore, the Council was exploring ways to implement artificial intelligence methods to improve efficiency going forward.

The Chair asked whether the Council’s CCTV network was robust. Andy Stocker confirmed that the Council owned the entire network and was fully managed and controlled by the Council – therefore it was very safe and not susceptible to interference.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee reviewed and commented on the report