Making headlines this month is the issue of community-monitored TV: essentially a new breed of CCTV monitoring that enables members of the public to subscribe to view live CCTV feeds via the Internet and then report any suspicious incidents in the hope of securing a financial reward.
While schemes such as Internet Eyes and Jabbakam claim to be “a natural progression from Neighbourhood Watch,” concerns have been raised across the private security sector in relation to the unregulated nature of this service.
Rules set out by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) state that if an organisation outsources data processing then a written contract should be in place, outlining clearly defined responsibilities for all parties involved.
The ICO also recommends that the contract should provide guarantees relating to data storage, and that all staff should be properly trained.
With public sector budget cuts affecting local police forces across the country, it’s easy to see why many smaller retailers and homeowners may be tempted to use these inexpensive schemes to protect themselves against theft, burglary and vandalism.
However, enabling unidentified members of the public to view CCTV footage – which potentially contains images of children and vulnerable adults – clearly raises some concerns about the integrity of community-monitored TV.
Undercut by cheaper schemes
By circumventing the current stringent licensing requirements that regulate the provision of CCTV services by the private security sector, community-monitored TV is able to provide a cheaper solution.
That community-monitored schemes are not covered by current licensing regulations means that responsible businesses paying to ensure that their personnel are trained and vetted to the best possible standards are being undercut by these cheaper schemes. Schemes that do not offer the same levels of protection to the public – the very people that the private security industry aims to protect.
As an organisation, the BSIA lobbied tirelessly for the introduction of licensing in the CCTV sector to ensure that all security officers whose jobs require access to CCTV footage of members of the public are properly trained and vetted.
Indeed, it’s the BSIA’s belief that, for reasons of public safety, these regulations should apply to all personnel with access to CCTV footage (including those registered through community-monitored TV schemes).
With this in mind, the BSIA has written to Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner, seeking clarification on the legal implications of community-monitored TV.
Commenting on this issue, the BSIA’s chief executive James Kelly told SMT Online: “Allowing untrained individuals to view CCTV footage in an unrestricted environment raises significant concerns about data protection. The presence of unregulated, unmonitored businesses has the potential to negate the high standards that all BSIA members have worked hard to achieve.”
Kelly continued: “For reasons of public safety, existing regulations and licensing requirements should apply to all personnel with access to CCTV footage, including those registered through community-monitored TV schemes. As such, the BSIA is calling upon the Information Commissioner’s Office to clarify how such schemes adhere to its CCTV Code of Practice.”
Biometric solutions now increasingly popular
With the BBC reporting an increase in the commercial use of biometric systems, the BSIA’s Access Control Section is reinforcing the benefits of this technology for restricting access to all or part of a building, in addition to the control of equipment.
While still viewed by many as a futuristic solution, biometrics is spreading rapidly across the defence and security industries, as well as creating opportunities for operational use by the military.
Some of the more familiar biometrics are fingerprint, facial recognition, hand geometry and iris recognition. These systems are among the most secure methods of identifying individuals.
As anticipated by the BSIA in an article focused on biometrics and published back in 2009, the application of biometric systems is now evolving from the sole domain of the defence and security industries into a management and operational tool for many different kinds of business. This is a view supported by the BSIA’s technical director Alex Carmichael.
“As biometric technology is developing, so more and more businesses are starting to consider using the technology to enhance their premises’ security,” said Carmichael.
Already, biometric solutions have been incorporated into town centre CCTV surveillance schemes in order to identify known individuals such as prolific shoplifters or people subject to exclusion orders. They’ve also been used to allow casino operators to enforce the blacklisting of so-called ‘card counters’.
Applications in the law enforcement arena
In the law enforcement arena, police forces have used biometrics successfully to compare CCTV footage and crime scene images with ‘mug shot’ photographs of convicted offenders.
Real-time applications have included searches of CCTV images for criminals and terrorists attending major sporting events.
Other potential uses under development encompass security at bank ATMs (replacing a bank card or PIN with a real-time comparison of the user’s face against a photograph stored on the bank’s database).
The same principle could also replace password log-in as a means of accessing computer systems by using a webcam to compare a digital image of the user’s face with that stored on the system.
Given that the number of applications of biometric technology is growing all the time, many end users considering the implementation of such solutions may require guidance or advice.
With this in mind, the BSIA’s Access Control Section has created a practical users’ guide to biometrics which can be downloaded for free from the BSIA’s website (see the foot of this article for a dedicated web link).
The Big Issue: a pan-European foothold for security manufacturers
The BSIA – and in particular its Security Equipment Manufacturers Section (SEMS) – has long been a supporter of pan-European certification, whereby the quality mark of a security product is recognised in all member countries.
This is to ensure consistently high – and more uniform – quality of products and systems, in turn promoting technical innovation and investment into what is now a fragmented industry. This is in keeping with the aims of European policy.
Indeed, one of the European Union’s main objectives is to facilitate reciprocal trade between its member countries. In actual fact, however, this has not translated as effectively as companies operating in the security equipment manufacturers’ environment may have hoped for: increasingly, standards have been written to provide the platform for uniform independent testing, but this in itself is not enough.
Currently, each UK company intending to export its security solutions across the EU is forced to undergo separate testing of said products for most of the countries to which they want to export. This means, for example, that an alarm compliant to the auditing requirements in France cannot necessarily be sold in Germany unless it’s being retested specifically for the German market.
This onerous process is not only time consuming but also financially burdensome, as the costs and time associated with the separate testing of the same products in each country can be considerable.
In addition, this issue is in direct conflict with the primary mission of the European Union (which is to allow for fairer trade across its member countries and stimulate competition).
Smaller companies, in fact, risk being discriminated against as they are often unable to sustain the costs they encounter each time they set out to achieve local quality marks.
Streamlining the testing process
“Although the European Union has proven successful in shaping regulations and standards applicable to the security industry, it has not managed to streamline the testing process for security solutions,” stressed Alex Carmichael.
“A uniformed testing process could be achieved by introducing pan-European certification which would provide a one-stop shop for all quality marks across the continent. This would mean that security products exported would be assessed against requirements shared by all EU countries, therefore dramatically improving the quality of products entering the market and reducing the confusion surrounding which tests are needed for each country.”
Carmichael added: “In addition, pan-European certification would reduce costs for companies and allow even smaller businesses to stand a chance of competing on a European level.”
The BSIA’s Security Equipment Manufacturers Section has vocally supported the benefits of making pan-European certification a legal requirement in the EU. It’s the Section’s belief that this would provide a more favourable international trading environment for security manufacturers.
For this reason, the Section and its members will continue to engage with key decision-makers in the national and European policy framework in an effort to reach an agreement that will help streamline and simplify the testing process abroad.
For more information about the BSIA’s Security Equipment Manufacturers Section access the dedicated section of the Trade Association’s website (again, a link is provided at the foot of this page)
Amanda Beesley is PR and marketing communications manager at the BSIA