Andrew Rennison, the Surveillance Camera Commissioner, addresses the audience at his first conference on the code of practice – Around 120 delegates attended the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s conference in London last week to hear about and discuss the latest developments around the commissioner’s new code of practice.

The event was held at the Royal Society in central London and was opened by the commissioner Andrew Rennison who, after introducing the day’s speakers, called for delegates to help promote the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice to the CCTV industry.

Borrowing a word from Lord Taylor of Holbeach, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Criminal Information at the Home Office, Rennison asked people to go forth and “evangelise” the code. He said it was an approach that had worked during his six years as the Forensic Science Regulator, and it was on the back of this success that the Home Office had asked him to become the interim CCTV regulator (later to become the surveillance camera commissioner).

Evangelising the code is necessary because, of course, the code is not mandatory and, as it only applies to systems owned by local authorities and the police, covers less than five per cent of CCTV systems in England and Wales.

And while relevant authorities have been told they must have regard to the 12 guiding principles of the code, there are no penalties for failing to observe it. Compliance is entirely voluntary […]

Source www.securitynewsdesk.com