Bernie Brooks of consultancy firm Datpro told Out Law Radio that less than five per cent of the buildings he had surveyed met basic data protection laws.
The warning comes amidst growing fears over privacy and just months before the SIA begins CCTV licensing in Scotland – potentially rendering thousands more systems illegal.
“If a system is non-compliant,” Brooks warned, “it could invalidate the usefulness of the evidence in a court of law.”
It has been widely reported that the UK is home to more CCTV cameras per head than anywhere else in the world and human rights activists have repeatedly called for the public to have easier access to recorded data. Brooks agreed, claiming basic rights were rarely considered by current laws.
“You could, in theory, walk in [to a business] and say ‘I would like a copy of my images from yesterday’.
“I tell you now, if you went and did that, 75 per cent of the businesses out there – if not 95 per cent – wouldn’t know what you were talking about and wouldn’t know how to handle it.”
He said CCTV operators often told members of the public that only police were allowed to request footage but dismissed this as ‘rubbish’.
“If somebody doesn’t know how to handle a request, it’s an offence under the [data protection] Act.”
Indeed, under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, public authorities are required to hand out any personal data they hold if it is requested by the person concerned.
But steps are being taken to regulate those behind the cameras. Anyone operating a CCTV system on behalf of a security contractor in England and Wales is required to hold an SIA license and the Information Commissioner’s Office must be notified about new systems.
The SIA’s head of investigation Jennifer Pattinson told the radio show, “The reason for licensing is to remove the criminal element from the private security industry, but also to improve levels of training and professionalism within the industry.”
Licensing, which is already regulated by the SIA in England and Wales, comes into force in Scotland on November the 1st.