The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) has welcomed the announcement from the Home Office on its formation of the National CCTV Oversight Body and decision to appoint an interim video surveillance regulator.
The
British Security Industry Association (BSIA) has welcomed the announcement from the Home Office on its formation of the National CCTV Oversight Body and decision to appoint an interim video surveillance regulator.
Among several responsibilities, the oversight body will develop the national standards for the installation and use of video surveillance in public spaces. It will determine training requirements for users and raise public awareness of how surveillance works and the benefits it carries in tackling crime and protecting the public. Over the next 12 months, the regulator will draft recommendations to ministers on how video regulations should be taken forward in future years and will also provide guidance on standards, image quality and training.
BSIA CCTV Section Chairman, Pauline Norstrom, said, “This announcement is excellent news for the security industry and the BSIA is extremely supportive of the government's work to further develop CCTV. With the appointment of an oversight body and regulator, public awareness of CCTV will only grow and standards will develop.”
“The BSIA is already very active in this area,” she said. “The announcement of an oversight body and regulator has been a natural progression of the National CCTV Strategy's work, which the BSIA is heavily involved with. Over the years we have also been at the forefront of the development of CCTV codes of practice and British Standards. As the trade association for the security industry, the BSIA advocates training for CCTV users and encourages high image quality. It was just this year that the BSIA adopted a new British Standard, which was formerly a BSIA code of practice, proclaiming the requirement for high quality images in order to use CCTV as evidence in court.”
“CCTV is vital to the protection of our society and the security industry is dedicated to ensuring it is used responsibly,” Norstrom said. “The appointments made by the Home Office on Tuesday is testimony to how important a role CCTV really does play.”