COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE (1)

Monday, October 20, 2008

QUESTION NO 14.

QUESTION: Councillor M. Corr

"To ask the Manager to report on the delays in rolling out the CCTV scheme in Jobstown, Brookfield, Fettercairn and Killinarden - while appreciating that the CCTV scheme is not in the ownership of the Council and that other agencies are responsible for it's delivery the delays are having an extremely negative affect on the morale of residents in these communities?"

REPLY:

Cameras in Brookfield, Fettercairn and Killinarden have been installed and ready to run when the electricity supply issues are sorted. Jobstown will now be in a position to sign the contract with TEC security.

The Code of Practice on Data Control is designed to assist operators of CCTV systems by highlighting certain legal obligations set down in the Data Protection Acts 1988 & 2003. It is intended to update the Code on a regular basis as practice & understanding of the laws in this area develop.

The Code provides detailed information on a number of issues that all persons

involved in the planning, supervision or operation of a CCTV system should familiarise themselves with. Those issues are:

•        Siting Standards

•        Quality of the images

•        Processing of CCTV images

•        Access to & disclosure of images to third parties

•        Access by data subjects

•        Miscellaneous data subject rights

•        Compliance with this code of practice

•        Supervision & control.

The Council also needed to address the following most of which we have now addressed:

•        full-time/part-time staffing implications

•        location of a central control station

•        relationship with the Gardai & community organisations

•        location of (fixed) cameras re line of sight etc

•        Portable & re-deployable cameras

•        Additional signage re CCTV areas

•        Ongoing maintenance & repairs

•        Other possible resource issues

In relation to training in order to ensure the proper & responsible operation of the CCTV system under their control, the Data Controller/community based group will ensure that all persons operating or monitoring the system are appropriately trained in the system’s use. Operators should therefore be aware of the user’s security policy (e.g. procedures for access to recorded images) & the user’s disclosure policy. This will have a time & cost element that will need to be built into the overall running of the scheme.

Staff operating the system should also be able to explain to members of the public the type of images which are recorded & retained, the purposes for which those images are recorded & retained, & information about the group’s disclosure policy in relation to those images.

These tasks will be pursued by SDDC to finality.