The document, issued by the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), warns that “far from ideal” footage could be helping criminals to avoid justice.
The 18-month consultation with retailers, local authorities and police found that the lack of a standard ‘camera to archive’ process leaves most footage unusable.
In fact, it was reported that many CCTV systems are installed without a clear plan of what they will be used for, and users often have no idea of how footage will be played back as evidence in court.
Police struggling to deal with the wide range of digital and analogue systems in use around the country have even appointed a specialist team to ‘decode’ footage for playback on Criminal Justice System computers.
It was revealed that many of the UK’s ‘public’ cameras, which have cost taxpayers around GB pound 200m in the last decade, are not even properly positioned to capture crime effectively.
“Much of the CCTV was installed in the 1990s, and any analysis of the siting of cameras may not still be relevant today,” the report says.
The National CCTV Strategy goes on to recommend changes to the way CCTV is monitored, including giving greater powers to the Information Commissioner and using the Data Protection Act more effectively. Such ideas have been welcomed by the BSIA, who described the report as a “significant step forward”.
“The plans laid down by the strategy will bring major benefits to public safety and lead to the effective reduction of crime,” said Pauline Norstrom, CCTV section chairman at the BSIA.
“CCTV technology is now very much part of our everyday lives and it is essential that its potential is maximised for the benefit of all.”
But the review, which ultimately recommends more funding for CCTV in public spaces, was lambasted by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis.
“In yet another extraordinary admission of incompetence we see that this Government has managed to give people all the disadvantages of CCTV in terms of undermining civil liberties but only provide minimal advantage in terms of public safety and crime detection,” he said.
