Big Brother is not alive and well in Wycombe (From This Is Local London)

CCTV operators are closely monitored

1:23pm Friday 10th February 2012 in Colin Baker By Colin Baker

THERE are few issues that divide people more than CCTV.

For everyone who feels more secure, there are others who fear the potential for population control by current or future authoritarian regimes, as chillingly depicted in ‘1984’ by George Orwell.

It is therefore very important that, when the public is being remotely observed, there are structures in place to ensure that the observers are themselves strictly controlled and monitored. We have a system that monitors over 200 cameras in High Wycombe and locations from Princes Risborough and Chesham in the north to Marlow in the south.

What makes our area unique is that Wycombe District Council recognised immediately the need to be seen to be operating the system lawfully and in the interests of the people being monitored.

Ten years ago, they set up a Panel of Lay Visitors to monitor the operation and report back to the council and, more importantly, the public. Because of the occasionally sensitive nature of the operation, there are some limitations on what the lay visitors reveal publicly and there are, of course, CRB checks run on new panellists. But, subject only to that, the panel is autonomous and appoints its own members. Its brief is to make unannounced visits to the control room, at any time of night or day, and check all the logs and documents relating to the use of the cameras and observe the operators in action.

The results are discussed at two-monthly meetings and recommendations made to the Council.

I joined the panel eight years ago and am now its chair and can testify that any fears I had about ‘Big Brother’ have been allayed completely during the time I have been involved. The strict rules that govern the operators are unfailingly adhered to, and were they to use the cameras inappropriately, systems are constructed to flag it up.

There is not enough space in this column to give much more information, but anyone who is interested to know more, or ask questions, might want to come to the Annual Public Meeting of the Panel, which is attended by the panel and the council officers responsible for its operation, next Monday evening, February 13, at 7pm in the Council Chamber of Wycombe DC’s offices.

The Annual Report of the Panel is online at the Community Safety section of the Council’s website or on Facebook at CCTV Lay Panel – High Wycombe Bucks.