COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE

Monday, January 22, 2018

QUESTION NO. 3

QUESTION: Councillor C. King

"To ask the Chief Executive to report in detail what procedures are to be followed by Bohernabreena Cemetery patrons who have had items stolen from graves or other types of robberies, to obtain information from the CCTV in the cemetery and to detail who has responsiblity for responding to requests such as these from the public, i.e SDCC, Gardaí, CCTV monitoring Company and can the Chief Executive make a statement on the matter?" 

REPLY:

"In line with the Counci's CCTV Code of Practice, for security reasons following a number of thefts from parked cars, CCTV was installed in the Car Park at Bohernabreena Cemetery.

These cameras do not extend to all graves and therefore instances of theft from graves should be reported directly to EWCC / Public Realm Administration who will investigate, and respond in accordance with the Code of Practice which provides as follows:

"Access to recorded footage is restricted and carefully controlled by the Authorised Person or his/her nominee(s) not only to ensure that the rights of individuals are preserved, but also to ensure that the chain of evidence remains intact should the footage be required for such purposes.

A person should provide all the necessary information to assist the Council in locating the CCTV recorded data, including the date, time and location of the recording.

The policy also provides that external requests for access to Council CCTV must be made in writing to the Data Protection Officer, Corporate Performance and Change Management Department within the retention period (28 days) and that recorded footage will be disclosed in consultation with the Authorised person of the relevant CCTV System. Such disclosure will be in compliance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 & 2003 and with the Council’s Data Protection Policy.

If An Garda Síochána request CCTV images for a specific investigation, the Data Protection Officer / Authorised Person must satisfy him/herself that there is a genuine investigation underway and any request from An Garda Síochána should be in writing on Garda headed notepaper.  However, for practical purposes pending receipt of the written request, a phone call to the requesting Garda’s station may be sufficient, provided that the Authorised Person speaks to a member in the District Office, the station sergeant or a higher ranking officer, as all may be assumed to be acting with the authority of a District / Divisional officer in confirming that an investigation is authorised."