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CCTV Strategy for Corby Borough Council

Draft June 2007

Corby Borough Council CCTV Strategy

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Abstract CCTV plays a significant role in reducing crime and disorder and increasing

community safety and public reassurance as well as assisting the police in

investigating crime.

To date the CCTV system at Corby Borough Council (CBC) has resulted in

over 4000 arrests directly attributable to the CCTV system and it has been

instrumental in identifying and bringing to justice scores of offenders, including

several high profile murderers in Corby Borough.

Corby Borough Council has made a significant investment in CCTV in

conjunction with Government funding through the Single Regeneration Budget

and Home Office funding, which has resulted in the expansion from the

original 4 rented analogue cameras established in 1994 to the 86 owned

digital camera system today.

The contribution CBC’s CCTV system has made in protecting the public and

assisting the police to investigate crime has occurred despite CCTV being

developed in a piecemeal fashion with little strategic direction or control. This

approach has failed to maximise the potential of the CCTV infrastructure and

those working closely with it believe there is a need to examine existing

standards and methods of operation.

This report examines the effectiveness and efficiency of the current CCTV

system, by conducting a strategic audit of the service provision this report

develops the first CCTV strategy, a medium term strategic plan for developing

and improving CCTV to ensure the service is fit for purpose and continues to

meet the needs of all its customers.


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Contents Page

Abstract 2 Contents 3 List of Tables 4 List of Appendices 5 Introduction 6 Main Body 8 Research and Analysis 15 Conclusions 21 Recommendations 24 References 32 Appendices


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List of Tables Page

Public Perception of the Effectiveness of CCTV 15 Public Awareness of New CCTV Installations 16 Local Business Crime Reduction Preferences 17 Dedicated CCTV Police Officer Resources 18 CCTV annual revenue and internal/external funding 19


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List of Appendices Appendix A Map of CCTV locations in Corby Borough

Appendix B SWOT analysis

Appendix C TOWS analysis

Appendix D PESTLE analysis

Appendix E Links to national and local Strategies and Plans

Appendix F MSC CCTV Strategy Report Recommendations


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Introduction

This report examines the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) for community

safety and crime reduction purposes in Corby Borough. Through this report the

first Corby Borough Council CCTV Strategy and recommendations for

improvement is created.

According to the Home Office (2007) there are three objectives for which CCTV is

often considered, these inform the siting and use of CCTV and are as follows: -

• To reassure the public and reduce the fear of crime. Concern about crime

or the fear of crime is often a motivation for calls from the public to install

CCTV in specific locations.

• To reduce and prevent crime by deterring potential offenders. The theory

is that potential offenders may think they may be observed and therefore

not offend. Deterrence is strongest where publicity is used when new

CCTV is installed and any deterrent or reassurance affect relies on the

perception that CCTV works. The Home Office (2007) suggests CCTV is

a deterrence for certain types of crime i.e. vehicle crime in car parks and

criminal damage, but is of limited value in reducing violence and alcohol

related crime. In some cases CCTV may displace crime to areas not

covered by CCTV.

• To act as a tool for gathering evidence in detecting crime. CCTV has an

important role in detecting crime, guiding enforcement officers and

providing evidence in court. CCTV has to be informed by police

intelligence using NIM (National Intelligence Model) and in turn has to

guide operations on the ground. In fact the Home Office (2007) suggests

correct training of staff and tasking through the police intelligence briefing

processes to monitor the right places at the right times watching for the

right people delivers results.


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It is however, important to note that CCTV is no more than one element in an

integrated approach to community safety and crime. For example, effective

management of the environment through enhanced street lighting, removal of

vegetation where appropriate to increase natural surveillance, improved physical

design of buildings such as alley gating and increased policing or guardianship of

public space all contribute to the reduction of crime.

This report examines the effectiveness and efficiency of the current CCTV

system, by conducting a strategic audit of the service provision and develops the

first Corby Borough Council CCTV strategy, a medium term strategic plan for

developing and improving CCTV to ensure the service is fit for purpose and

continues to meet the needs of all its customers. This report and

recommendations are broadly based on the following seven key themes and

examine each in detail:

• Police Use of CCTV

• Partnership Working with Public and Private Sector

• Finance and Resources

• Performance Management

• Legislation

• New Technologies and Future Issues

• Marketing and Communication


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Main Body

Corby Borough Council’s CCTV system was established in 1994 with four rented

analogue cameras, the system now has 86 cameras. The system utilises 53 BT

fibre optic transmission network circuits together with four microwave links. These

cameras are used proactively or left to run on programmed 360°patterns. Two of

the 86 CCTV cameras are mobile cameras, operating via microwave

transmission; these cameras are deployed in high crime areas to offer short to

medium term solutions to crime problems as identified by the Council and Police.

Two cameras are ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras linked

to the Driving Vehicle Licensing Association (DVLA) vehicle licence database and

Police National Computer (PNC).

Most of the cameras are situated in residential areas, located across the various

estates in the town, providing coverage of over two hundred streets (see

Appendix A for a map of CCTV camera locations). All of the council owned

cameras are monitored twenty four hours a day seven days a week, with two

operators monitoring from 9am until 5pm and single cover from 5pm until 9am.

The monitoring of the system is contracted out to a private security company -

Remploy Management Services. There are currently nine members of staff: eight

CCTV Operators and one CCTV Supervisor. The CCTV Supervisor, who has a

hands on role as part of the nine-person team monitoring the cameras, carries

out the day to day running of the control room (i.e. staff supervision, image

requests and co-ordinating repairs).

Corby Borough Council’s Community Safety Officer has overall responsibility for

managing the CCTV system which includes managing the finances and

procurement of the staff, equipment and maintenance contracts, the remaining

half of their role is to co-ordinate anti social behaviour activities on behalf of the

authority and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP).


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The CCTV staff work closely with the police, providing intelligence used in the

detection and prevention of crime and disorder, helping to inform and direct

officers on the ground and providing video evidence usable in court. Liaison

between the CCTV and police control room at Police Headquarters in

Northampton is achieved via a direct fibre optic link to a spot monitor located in

the police control room as well as a dedicated phone line for direct

communications between operators. The CCTV control room staff also have a

police airwave radio allowing direct contact with operational police officers. The

close working relationships between the police and CCTV staff has led to many

police surveillance operations carried out within the CCTV control room and has

led to numerous arrests and several commendations by Northamptonshire

Police. The police regularly conduct APNR operations to apprehend travelling

criminals who often drive without car tax, insurance and valid MOT.

• Partnership Working with the Public and Private Sector

The Council CCTV system monitors a significant number of public sector and

private sector premises, including many of the Borough Council facilities (Lodge

Park Leisure Centre, West Glebe Park Pavilion, Neighbourhood Centres and the

One Stop Shop at Grosvenor House). Nearly all of the town’s public houses,

night clubs and takeaways are covered by CCTV as are the main shopping

areas: Phoenix Parkway; Morrisons; and most of the residential shopping areas.

At night the 16 town centre based Land Securities owned cameras are

transmitted through the Council’s CCTV control room and CBC CCTV operators

proactively monitor the town centre in an addition to all 86 council owned

cameras.

Close working between CBC CCTV and shops in the Borough through the shop

watch radio scheme forms part of the Corby Retail and Business Initiative Against

Crime (CORBIAC). CCTV operators play a vital role in making the town shopping

areas more secure by warning security and shop staff when known offenders

enter the area, by enforcing the Retail Exclusion Scheme and by detecting crime.

CCTV plays an integral role in the Corby Pubwatch scheme by identifying

potential problems and using the radios to communicate with and warn security


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staff and licensees about known alcohol related/ violent offenders near their

premises and providing direct liaison with the police control room staff when

public disorder incidents occur.

CBC CCTV operators work closely with staff at Kettering CCTV Control Centre

(monitoring CCTV in Kettering town and the A6 towns and East Northants District

Council main towns) sharing information about travelling criminals. Regular

liaison also takes place with Northampton’s CCTV control room which provides

coverage of Northampton Borough, Wellingborough Borough and Daventry

Districts. Opportunities for a countywide system have been explored by the police

in the past which whilst worth exploring appear to be a very long way off given

the current investment and disparate ownership, political sensitivity to the issue

along with the costs of moving the infrastructure and fibre optic cabling.


CCTV is an expensive crime prevention measure when compared with other

crime prevention initiatives. The expansion of the current CCTV system is limited

by resource constraints, both capital installation costs of cameras and the

supporting infrastructure, and the additional revenue implications of costs of staff

necessary to monitor additional cameras mean that the scope for increasing the

number of cameras is limited. As a discretionary service provided by the

authority there is pressure to make significant year on year efficiency savings and

increase income generated by the service. The CCTV service is under increasing

pressure to reduce the significant overheads which currently cost £383,000 per

annum. However, CBC acknowledges the value and contribution made by CCTV

towards reducing crime and improving community safety and has recently

upgraded the entire control room equipment at a total capital cost of £131,840.


Each month the CCTV supervisor provides a statistical analysis of the previous

month’s activities; this includes a summary of each incident, a list of arrests per

camera, the total number of arrests and the police response to incidents.

Comparisons are made for the same month compared to the previous year as


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well as accumulative statistics for the year to date. To date there have been over

4000 arrests directly attributable to CCTV, with an average of 50 arrests a month.

• Legislation

Corby Borough Council operates a strict Code of Practice that is modelled on the

Home Office approved code. This covers all aspects of CCTV operation including

the operator’s use of the cameras and makes due regard to privacy issues as

most of the Borough Council’s cameras are located in residential areas and

makes sure the CCTV system is operated in compliance with Data Protection,

Human Rights Act, Freedom of Information and Regulatory Powers Act

legislation. In addition, all CCTV staff are fully trained and qualified in

accordance with Security Industry Association standards.


The introduction of a digitalised CCTV system in 2007 could provide opportunities

for real benefits if the technology is harnessed correctly. Improving the quality of

CCTV images will support the development of current, complimentary

technologies such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and future

technologies such as facial recognition. The new system will also allow for the

expansion of the existing 86 camera system to up to 124 cameras.


Corby Borough Council does not invest much time or effort into CCTV marketing

activities, this is due to the system having until recently been antiquated and with

no capacity to add new cameras to the system. However, with the new digitalised

and “state of the art” control room equipment, there is now much scope to

promote and market the service and utilise spare capacity to monitor other public

or private sector CCTV systems.

Communication with key stakeholders has traditionally involved letter drops to

residents in areas where new CCTV installations are intended. Consultation has

tended to be limited in scope and could be developed to increase both public

reassurance and act as a deterrence.


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Strategic Audit Assessment

This report is concerned with undertaking a strategic audit to aid the preparation

of a strategic CBC CCTV plan based on the conclusions drawn from a detailed

strategic audit of the service, consideration of existing related strategies and

plans, and analysis of existing CCTV secondary research. These key processes

form the basis of the strategic assessment, from which conclusions are drawn

and 44 recommendations for CCTV service improvement made. The three audit

frameworks are highlighted as follows:

• SWOT Analysis

This process outlines the internal strengths and weaknesses of the CCTV

service, the external opportunities and threats and is detailed in Appendix B. The

SWOT analysis identified strengths in terms of both leadership and experience

and knowledge of existing CCTV staff, robust procurement procedures in place

with good contractual arrangements for maintenance, equipment and CCTV staff.

Financial systems are closely managed and year on year efficiency savings are

made in line with Council and Government requirements. The new digital control

room offers significant scope for development both in terms of income generation

and service delivery improvements. However, current weaknesses include:

communication and marketing activities; engagement with key stakeholders;

performance management arrangements; and many of the existing cameras

need replacing. There are many opportunities for developing the service now the

control room has been upgraded through expansion and diversification of

services offered (key holder and alarm monitoring), developers funding CCTV

installation on new developments as part of planning (s.106) agreements and

closer working with public and private sector partners to increase CCTV

monitoring and integration. Key threats to the service are mainly financial as the

service is discretionary, and any change in political administration at either a local

or national level could place additional pressure to reduce costs on non statutory

council services. The long term future of the control centre base is unclear with

Grosvenor House to be decamped within the next 3-5 years leading to future

operational and financial implications upon CCTV service delivery including the

need to relocate the signal mast to another suitable location.


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• TOWS Analysis

The TOWS analysis illustrated in Appendix C, offers a number of options to

address the weaknesses, threats and build on the strengths and opportunities of

the CCTV service identified within the SWOT analysis were identified. Firstly the

need to maintain and develop areas of strength including: staffing experience and

expertise; procurement and financial procedures; and the state of the art control

room. To develop current areas of weakness by developing a marketing plan,

increase stakeholder in service development, improve CCTV performance

management and implement a phased programme to replace/ upgrade existing

cameras. To embrace opportunities to work collaboratively with both public and

private sector partners, to use spare capacity to develop and expand the range of

services provided and to maximise income generation opportunities. Finally to

minimise threats by reducing the financial burden of the service on the authority

through income generation and to undertake an options appraisal to assess

suitable alternative locations for a new CCTV control room and signal mast.

• PESTLE Analysis

The PESTLE analysis as depicted in Appendix D looks at the external political,

economical, sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors affecting

CBC CCTV by identifying changes that are occurring and the impact that will

have on the service and the authority. In addition, to the key factors already

mentioned within the SWOT and TOWS analysis this highlighted that the service

needs to undertake a review of existing service charges to ensure that services

are not undercharged/ valued and to ensure costs do not deter those who would

most benefit the service. Marketing and communication activities and information

must reflect and reach out to the emerging economic migrant population from

former eastern European countries and the service must embrace innovative

CCTV technologies whilst considering opportunities to reduce the overall capital

and revenue costs to the authority.


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Links with national and local Strategies and Plans

In the development of this report, strategy and recommendations, consideration

of a number of key national and local strategies and plans has been made and

wherever possible and when compatible with stakeholder and research analysis

these strategy themes have been integrated into the report and

recommendations, a summary of the key local and national strategies can be

found in Appendix E.


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Research and Analysis

As a part of the strategic audit, an analysis of related research was undertaken.

From the research it is clear that CCTV consultation and the findings from this are

limited in terms of detailed stakeholder views on the CCTV service provided locally.

Moreover, at the time of writing no national research exists to complement local

evidence providing an overarching national perspective. In addition to local

stakeholder views, research had been conducted by the Public CCTV Managers

Association and allows for comparisons with other public sector owned CCTV

systems for the first and only time. A brief overview the research and the results are

highlighted as follows:

Priority Research as a part of the Crime and Disorder Audit (2004)

Commissioned by the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership to undertake public

consultation as part of the Crime Audit process; Priority Research developed a

questionnaire which was sent to a random sample of 2000 households in Corby

Borough. The survey yielded a very poor response rate of 6.65% (133), however,

despite its limitations, survey respondents were asked two specific questions about

CCTV as the following charts illustrate:

Public Perception Of The Effectiveness Of CCTV

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

Ineffective Fairly Ineffective Neither FairlyEffective Very Effective

Preventing Crime Helping You Feel Safe


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The results are encouraging in that the majority of respondents feel that CCTV is

collectively fairly or very effective in preventing crime and helping people feel safe.

However, when asked about new camera installations, only just over half of those

were aware of new installations, as illustrated in the pie chart below:

At the time the survey was conducted a major new cluster of cameras had just been

installed at Phoenix Parkway, which had attracted widespread local media coverage,

the results suggest room for improvement with CCTV communication and marketing

activities.

CORBIAC Business Crime Survey (2005)

Undertaken as part of the consultation phase of the last Crime and Disorder Audit,

all 1200 local businesses were sent a survey asking for their concerns about and

experiences of crime and disorder, in particular the businesses were asked about

what they would like to be done to improve community safety and reduce crime and

disorder. Again response rates were very poor with only 41 surveys returned

(3.42%) and at best but the results provide only a flavour of local business

viewpoints. However, despite its limitations, half of the businesses stated they would

like improved video camera surveillance along with faster police response and

security patrols as businesses viewed these measures as effective ways of reducing

crime as illustrated in the table overleaf:

Public Awareness Of New CCTV Installations

52%

48%YesNo


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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Faster PoliceResponse

CCTV CrimePrevention

Advice

SecurityPatrols

Local Businesses Crime Reduction Preferences

Local businesses suggested using their own premises for installing mobile CCTV to

deal with short-term crime issues and the need to integrate Borough system with

existing private sector owned systems as well as the need for private sector CCTV

systems to be mapped.

Public CCTV Managers Association Research (2005)

The Public CCTV Managers Association (PCMA) undertook research during the

early part of 2005 in an attempt to compare local authority CCTV systems including

equipment, staffing, performance management and financial arrangements across

the country. The self assessment survey consisting of 60 questions was completed

by only 16 authorities, ranging from a small local authority CCTV system with 67

cameras to a Metropolitan Borough system with 567 cameras. Whilst not

representative of all the 107 PCMA members, it provides a snapshot of other local

authority CCTV systems and allows some comparison and the ability to benchmark

the service provision for the first time. Key areas of interest for this report were

responses relating to police use of CCTV, private and public sector partnership

working including services offered in addition to CCTV monitoring and new

technologies. Each of these themes is discussed in more detail as overleaf:


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Of the sixteen systems the average control room had the equivalent to 1 full-time

dedicated CCTV police officer, however, rates varied tremendously with half of all

local authority control rooms alike Corby having no dedicated police resources and

generally the larger systems having more police resources.

CCTV Police Officer Resources

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0 0.5 1 2 3 4

No. of Full Time Police Officers

No. of CCTV Centres

With regards to communication and links with the police, 50% of the local authority

CCTV systems had direct video link with Police Control rooms and all 16 systems

had a direct telephone and with 13 of the 16 respondents having Airwave radio

contact with the police, although 5 of these (including Corby) were not allowed to

use the Airwave system in a proactive manner (i.e. they were not able to

communicate directly with police officers attending incidents). At the time the survey

was undertaken ANPR was still a very new technology and 9 of the respondents did

not utilise ANPR, the remaining 7 (including Corby) had ANPR cameras with

Bradford having 22 ANPR cameras.


With reference to working with the public and private sector, 2 questions elicited

relevant information, firstly other services provided in addition to CCTV and secondly

whether any of the systems monitored privately owned car parks. The findings

demonstrated the majority (9) did not provide other services and of the 7 that did, 3


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CCTV systems monitored just 1 intruder alarm for their own council, 1 monitored 2

council intruder alarms and of the remaining 3 systems, Bradford monitored 3

intruder alarms and 82 fire alarms, North Lincolnshire supervised 173 local authority

intruder and 82 fire alarms and the Kingston Upon Hull (the largest scheme)

monitored 250 council intruder alarms, was the key holder for 350 council buildings

and also monitored 150 local authority fire alarms. The majority (12) did not provide

CCTV monitoring services for private car parks. Of the 4 that did, Sedgemoor and

Corby monitored 1, Chesterfield monitored 2 and Bradford monitored 4 privately

owned car parks.


Annual income and revenue funding (both internal and external) varied widely

amongst the responses. However, this in part was broadly commensurate with the

size of the system, with the larger systems generating the highest costs and largest

incomes, for example, Kingston Upon Hull Council with 567 cameras, annual

revenue costs in 2004/5 were £1.2 million and £757K external income and £440K

internal income generated mainly through alarm and key holder services. The

variation in annual costs and internal/ external funding is illustrated as follows:

CCTV Annual Revenue & Internal/External Funding

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Local Authority CCTV Systems

£000's

Annual Revenue CostExternal IncomeInternal Income


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• New Technologies

All systems were heavily reliant on British Telecom fibre-optic cabling for transmitting

images between the camera and control centre, a few councils had installed their

own fibre cables, used ISDN lines and the majority of systems (11) also used either

microwave and/or radio wave transmissions for mobile cameras.

MSC Consultancy Plan (2005)

In 2005, CBC employed the services of MSC Consultancy, a specialist CCTV

consultant to conduct an audit of the system, to assess future CCTV and control

room requirements and to oversee the procurement of control room and

maintenance contracts. As a part of this work, MSC undertook an analysis of the

current control room management, operational arrangements and provided a

detailed options assessment of the equipment, control room, maintenance and

staffing contractual arrangements. The report identified a number of areas where the

council was spending money unnecessarily. In total 33 recommendations were

made to improve the efficiency of the CCTV system (see Appendix F for more

details) and many of the recommendations to streamline procedures to prevent

similar occurrences have since been adopted, the most significant and most recent

being the replacement of the analogue control room with a digital system. Those

recommendations that have not already been adopted as standard procedures have

been integrated into the recommendations contained within this report.


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Conclusions

CCTV is one tool, which is used to combat both crime and the fear of crime. Its

service is generally valued by those who benefit from its provision, with the

exception of offenders caught by CCTV evidence. However, CCTV has

limitations and its suitably must be assessed and its implementation considered

with other preventative measures and is in accordance with the guiding principles

of the use of CCTV within Corby Borough.

The CCTV system in Corby has many strengths and opportunities including the

expertise and knowledge of staff, a new digital control room, robust procurement

and financial procedures in place. Through regeneration the system has the

ability to expand to cover more of the town and outlying villages. There also many

weaknesses and threats with the system mainly involving limited finances and the

long term uncertainties over the control room and signal mast location. This

section provides a summary of the key findings of the strategic audit process

within each of the key report themes as follows:


Research has shown the police value the provision, certainly other stakeholders

perceive the police to be the key beneficiaries but are seen by many to contribute

little towards its costs. Research conducted by the PCMA suggests other police

forces contribute more towards their CCTV systems than Northamptonshire

Police provides. The police do not place the same value on CCTV as other

forensic disciplines they use.

The police needs to review its approach to CCTV and establish the operational

processes and management structure that will ensure it makes better use of

CCTV’s surveillance capacity. Performance standards will produce quantifiable

data allowing the effectiveness of CCTV evidence to be judges and integration of

CCTV into the policing function will allow for intelligence to be shared with those

responsible for monitoring the images.


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There is a need for a multi agency approach to CCTV; this extends further than

just local authority CCTV systems. The private sector also needs to be drawn in

as a large number of CCTV systems are privately owned. There is the need to

keep abreast of developments by liasing with the private sector to provide an

integrated CCTV service.

Partnership working with both public and private sector partners does take place,

however, this undertaken in a disparate and piecemeal manner. There is room

for improvement in this area and with the installation of the new CCTV control

room there is substantial scope for increasing and developing CCTV and related

services but it requires the authority to recognise that it will require dedicated time

and resources to deliver the potential benefits. Comparisons against other local

authority systems show that many of the larger ones have developed a diverse

range of products.


There are a number of demands for additional CCTV cameras, but limited

resources to increase the number of cameras and as a discretionary service and

funding for CCTV causes some concern. The system is set up and controlled by

CBC yet benefits many including the police and the wider criminal justice system.

CCTV impacts significantly on community safety, which is a statutory obligation

for a number of organisations. There is therefore a desire for contribution towards

the running costs from these benefiting partners.

Comparisons against other local authorities CCTV systems suggests we could

significantly increase the amount of income generated both internally and

externally through the provision of additional services, as some systems are

financially sustainability. Indeed CBC recognises the importance of reducing

annual revenue costs through efficiency savings and increased income

generation. It is recognised that key beneficiaries not yet contributing towards the

system should pay towards the annual running costs and a review of existing

funding arrangements and monitoring costs is required.


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Benchmarking against other systems is limited, however, research indicates that

improvements are required in performance management. The current CCTV

procedures have evolved in a disparate way and are neither effective (fulfils

corporate customer satisfaction and corporate objectives) nor efficient in

delivering what the customer wants in the most efficient way (least cost, best

quality and use of resources and in optimum speed). The service needs to focus

on customer CCTV needs and improve to provide the best service for them

(Hannagan, 1995).

• Legislation

CCTV is covered by a wide variety of legislation; and it is the responsibility of the

council to ensure that all relevant legislation is strictly adhered to through the

implementation of the CCTV Code of Practice. The Code of Practice needs to be

reviewed and procedures for public requests for images need to be made clear.


The CCTV system does use some innovative technologies and practices but

needs to keep abreast of technological advancements in the field whilst

considering opportunities to increase income and reduce the overall costs to the

authority whilst continually improving the service performance. The issue of

finding a new control room and signal mast location poses a significant financial

and operational hurdle to be overcome in the medium term.


Marketing and communication activities are fairly limited at the present time and

needs to improve along side the business development. Stakeholder awareness

is limited, yet can increase perceptions of effectiveness and deterrence.


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Recommendations

Essentially the CBC CCTV Strategy provides an overarching strategic framework

identifying the council’s CCTV objectives and priorities, based on detailed

stakeholder analysis and good practice from other local authorities. The CCTV

Strategy mission is:

“to provide an effective and efficient service which provides a

physical presence and deterrence to assist in reducing crime, the

fear of crime and bring offenders to justice in Corby Borough.

The vision within the CCTV strategy is for Corby residents and businesses to

benefit from a 24/7 monitoring service that includes CCTV, alarms monitoring,

community alarms, key holding and other related services. The service should

cover the council and its partners and with public and private sector investment in

management time and resources, could be largely self financing. Local credibility

and recognition of the services provided should be so high that local businesses

be keen to buy in the service, making full use of any spare capacity.

To help CBC help achieve this ambitious vision, the CCTV Strategy must have an

action plan to ensure that the document aims and objectives are implemented via

actions that are measured, monitored and evaluated. The action plan will include

activities that are SMART, in that they are: Specific; Measurable; Achievable;

Realistic and Time bound.

The next stage of this work will be in the form of the implementation phase which

will prioritise and develop the recommendations. The CBC staff and police

responsible for delivering the actions will be involved in the development stage to

ensure ownership and the Strategy and actions will need to be communicated

effectively to all stakeholders. Key to the success of the CCTV Strategy will be

the establishment of the overarching CCTV Board that co-ordinates the activity

and ensures the co-operation and agreement that is vital if the Strategy is to be

implemented successfully.


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This section of the report highlights specific recommendations for action to

improve the authority’s CCTV service. The recommendations contained within

this section represent a significant effort for all those involved with CCTV.

Progress in these areas is extremely important if CBC is to realise the full

potential of CCTV in Corby Borough and receive the support of all key

stakeholders. Specifically the CCTV strategy includes a mixture of short-term

and longer term activities which are based on the following seven themes:

o Police Use of CCTV

o Partnership Working with Public and Private Sector

o Finance and Resources

o Performance Management

o Legislation

o New Technologies and Future Issues

o Marketing and Communication


The police are one of the key stakeholders from the service and are the key

benefactor from the service, yet their involvement with performance management

and service delivery is currently limited, to improve this, the following

recommendations are made:

1. Northamptonshire Police to develop a model for managing the recovery,

analysis and investigation of CCTV evidence.

2. Appropriate resources and training for CCTV evidence recovery, analysis and

investigation should be given.

3. CCTV ownership and links to existing forensic disciplines to be determined,

performance standards to be developed.

4. Protocols for the use of Airwave radio to be developed creating direct

communication and sharing of intelligence between police and CCTV staff.


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5. Protocols to be developed that required the police to provide feedback to

CCTV managers as to the operational usefulness of CCTV images.

6. Establish the basic network infrastructure to facilitate the connection of digital

CCTV systems to the network.

7. Northamptonshire Police to consider making regular financial contributions

towards the costs of the local authority owned CCTV systems.


Partnership working is integral to the effectiveness of CBC owned system; the

service already works in partnership with the local businesses including

CORBIAC and Pubwatch members and many other commercial and domestic

property developers. This objective aims to continue to develop this area of work

to continue to reduce crime and improve community safety in Corby Borough.

8. CCTV to become an integral part of any new development, linking CCTV into

general planning considerations and maximising funding through S106

planning agreements.

9. To offer support and advice regarding the provision of permanent or stand

alone CCTV systems to retail, commercial and domestic properties to deter

crime and enhance the detection of crime.

10. Extend the remit of CCTV to monitor railway and where possible on board

buses. Extending to car parks, civic developments, stadiums, arenas and

other areas of public convenience thus creating a hub for public space CCTV.

11. Ensure the Community Safety Officer is aware of major CCTV purchases

within the Borough to consider integration/ compatibility for CBC monitoring

and the opportunity to maximise potential monitoring fee contribution.


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The CCTV system has to demonstrate value for money by improving the current

system equipment and performance whilst maintaining and ultimately reducing

the financial costs to the authority. The vision is to create a service which breaks

even through income generation. This will be achieved through the following

activities:

12. To invest in current CCTV management capacity to create a full-time CCTV

Manager position to develop business opportunities (to take advantage of the

income opportunities offered will require investment in additional equipment,

staff and marketing).

13. To identify and apply for internal (Invest To Save and Capital bids) and

external funding streams (Safer and Stronger Communities and Basic

Command Unit funds) to improve the current CCTV system.

14. To identify CCTV efficiency savings so that CCTV provision can be

maintained and developed at no extra cost and potentially reduced costs year

on year to the council.

15. Maximise contributions from beneficiaries of the scheme in the public and

private sectors. Specifically to explore contributions from the police, voluntary

contributions from local business and local authority housing rents.

16. Review all existing CCTV monitoring agreements and associated charges

with the view to increase the income streams.

17. Gain financial support from licensees under entertainment licensing

arrangements.

18. Combine enterprises to reduce cabling and transmission costs and sharing

design and installation costs with private sector developers.


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19. Use spare CCTV capacity to monitor public/ private sector premises where

an income may be generated, these may include: Primary Schools;

Secondary Schools; Youth Clubs; Libraries; Health Centres and Leisure

Centres.

20. Pursue private sponsorship of CCTV installations (with acknowledgement on

CCTV signage).

21. Conduct a feasibility study into the use of CCTV poles for telecom aerials as

a form of income generation.

22. Develop CCTV into an alarm monitoring and key holding service, monitoring

alarms from Council buildings and ultimately other public sector and

potentially private buildings.

23. Work towards integrating the Borough and Town Centre (Land Securities)

CCTV and other private sector and public sector CCTV systems within the

Borough.

24. Consider the use of CCTV to assist in enforcement of decriminalised parking

enforcement and Bylaw enforcement.

25. CCTV monitoring via mobile cameras of private premises e.g. construction

sites and provide an electronic patrolling of retail and business parks.

26. Pursue lone worker monitoring for CBC staff and potentially other agency/

private business staff as a form of income generation.


CCTV performance and customer satisfaction needs to be measured in a

systematic manner, and reviewed and continuously improved. By adopting a

Quality First approach to operating all aspects of its CCTV service provision

would reduce the overall CCTV costs to the authority and demonstrating Best


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Value and value for money as well as increasing customer satisfaction, this will

be achieved through the following activities:

27. Development of a CCTV Board on behalf of CBC and Corby CDRP to

oversee its development and performance.

28. Key Performance Indicators should be included as part of the Service Area

Performance Plan and include the following:

o No. of arrests

o No. of police operations

o No. of incidents filmed

o No. of evidence review visits by Police

o No. of evidence requests from the police

o How useful the CCTV has been in the investigation

o The number of occasions CCTV material has been used in court

o How useful the CCTV has been at court

o Other requests for evidence

29. Ensure that the monitoring of the system is effective and that all operators

are fully trained to meet the legal and operational requirements including

competence with the new technologies used and understanding of the

performance management procedures established. Work related performance

and role competencies to be regularly reviewed as part of the Employee

Development Scheme and as part of the drive for continuous improvement.

30. Review the location and purpose of all CCTV cameras. Review all the CCTV

cameras in public space use, detailing their purpose and establishing if they

are fit for purpose.

31. Ensure that the maintenance of the CCTV system is kept to the highest

standards at all times.

32. Ensure that all new installations include anti-climb frames and anti-ram

bollards surrounding the pole to protect any potential damage to the camera.


30

33. Manage vegetation and overgrown foliage around cameras to ensure views

are not obstructed.

34. Develop a Risk Management Plan to identify potential implications of system

failure and emergency planning.

• Legislation

CCTV is covered by a wide variety of legislation; this objective is concerned with

ensuring that all relevant legislation is strictly adhered to through the

implementation of the CCTV Code of Practice.

35. To ensure that CBC CCTV complies with all relevant legislation, with

particular reference to the Data Protection Act, Human Rights Act, Freedom of

Information Act and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and the CCTV

Code of Practice is reviewed on a regular basis.

36. CCTV should be considered in planning regulations and licensing, therefore

satisfying inspection, regulation and enforcement by capturing CCTV within

the licensing laws that currently exist.

• New Technologies/ Future Issues

This objective is concerned with developing the CCTV system using innovative

technologies and practices to keep abreast of technological advancements in the

field whilst considering opportunities to increase income and reduce the overall

costs to the authority and continually improving the service performance. The

objective is also concerned with keeping abreast of future or emerging issues that

may impact upon the CCTV service.

37. Implement a phased programme to replace/upgrade existing cameras.

38. Expansion of the system must carefully consider and be determined by crime

figures, incident reports, available funding and through detailed consultation

with all key stakeholders.


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39. Wherever possible utilise COFDM and microwave transmission methods to

ensure no added revenue costs to the CCTV system.

40. Additional external cameras must have night-time vision to maximise camera

performance and usage.

41. Consider future control room location (when Grosvenor House is decamped)

and promote the development of a monitoring suite capable of incorporating the

existing CCTV monitoring service and potential co-location of the council’s out

of hours services including handling all council telephone calls and community

alarms with the potential for further integration with co-located community safety

team to improve intelligence sharing and joint tasking.

42. Scanning equipment and routine scanning of relevant documents to be

introduced as part of the CCTV procedure, contributing towards the

Governments E-Gov targets and reducing administration, documentation

storage and general bureaucracy.


Marketing and communication activities are fairly limited at the present time but

the following activities are aimed at improving this area of work:

43. Develop a CCTV Communications and Marketing Plan which includes:

o Marketing Material for potential new business/ income generation.

o Regular news stories about the deterrent potential and successes of

the CCTV system through press conferences for major new stories or

announcements, press briefings, press receptions and involve media

representatives in aspects of CCTV.

o CBC CCTV Internet sites to be redeveloped and maintained.

44. Consultation with local residents and businesses about proposed camera

installation and potential rent/ rate increases prior to installation – need to sell

the notion, which requires more than a letter drop.


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References Hannagan, T. (2002) Mastering Strategic Management, 2002, Palgrave.

Hannagan, T. (1998) Management Concepts and Practices, 2nd edition,

Pitman Publishing.

Home Office (2007) National CCTV Strategy Project, Draft Report – Version

B, February 2007, Home Office.

Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (1997) Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and

Cases, 4th edition, Prentice Hall.

Mullins, L. J. (1999) Management and Organisational Behaviour, 5th edition,

Prentice Hall.

http://www.corby.gov.uk/an/wc.exe.AO2/Corbyimages/onecorby.pdf.

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