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Since this study is from the UK where (at least in London) it feels like there are cameras pretty much everywhere...I wonder if a citizen concerned with police

by kriro 10y ago

Since this study is from the UK where (at least in London) it feels like there are cameras pretty much everywhere...I wonder if a citizen concerned with police abuse could get a sort of citizens warrant to tap into these feeds to make their case? Or maybe automatically track police with these cameras with some sort of recognition system and have a review board do sample tests on the material in some way? Are those alternatives that are considered (compared to body cameras)? I like the general psychological notion of "adding extra surveillance of citizens creates extra surveillance of the state forces as well". Might even serve to create some sort of "enough surveillance" balance. How does access to security cameras generally work? You can get access to the material for court cases to defend yourself, right?

vidarh 10y ago
In all of the EU, EU data protection law provides for subject access to recordings. Specifically in the UK, the UK Data Protection Act requires that anyone that operates surveillance cameras have procedures in place to process subject access notices. In other words: You already can get access to them. No warrant needed. There are exceptions, e.g. recordings can be withheld if subject to an ongoing criminal investigation (but in that case, if you're involved, it will be evidence that your defence have a right to get access to). This is not limited to government operated cameras, but all operators (and private cameras make up the vast majority of cctv in the UK)
- DanBC 10y ago
  Yes, you can get access of video of yourself. > > I wonder if a citizen concerned with police abuse could get a sort of citizens warrant to tap into these feeds to make their case? Can a concerned citizen monitor other footage? Under English law probably not.
- Chris2048 10y ago
  Can you give me details? I live in Ireland, a member of the EU. I once tried to get footage from a privately owned camera overlooking a public ATM. By the time I got a reply, they stated the footage on the HDD had already been wiped and overwritten...
jon-wood 10y ago
You can get access to security cameras, but you'll have to go hunting a bit. Some cameras are operated by local government, but the vast majority are run by privately and you'd need to track down each operator and request the relevant material. Depending how long its been they may or may not still have it, and I imagine despite the legal requirement to provide access a lot of people will initially refuse to go trawling through their CCTV archives to find the relevant material.
Brakenshire 10y ago
https://www.gov.uk/request-cctv-footage-of-yourself https://www.gov.uk/request-cctv-footage-of-yourself However, in practice different operators will have different standards, which makes it more complicated: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/22/cctv-cameras-capture-almost-every-move-on-city-streets-what-happens-when-you-ask-to-see-the-footage https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/22/cctv-cameras-... CCTV in Britain is not all its cracked up to be, on the negative and the positive side. Even if the operator was competent, and there was coverage of the area, I doubt in a conflict with a police officer that you'd get much out of it, most of the time, you'd need the sound, and higher quality footage, to get much of a sense of the situation.

by kriro 10y ago

vidarh 10y ago

In all of the EU, EU data protection law provides for subject access to recordings. Specifically in the UK, the UK Data Protection Act requires that anyone that operates surveillance cameras have procedures in place to process subject access notices. In other words: You already can get access to them. No warrant needed. There are exceptions, e.g. recordings can be withheld if subject to an ongoing criminal investigation (but in that case, if you're involved, it will be evidence that your defence have a right to get access to). This is not limited to government operated cameras, but all operators (and private cameras make up the vast majority of cctv in the UK)

DanBC 10y ago
Yes, you can get access of video of yourself. > > I wonder if a citizen concerned with police abuse could get a sort of citizens warrant to tap into these feeds to make their case? Can a concerned citizen monitor other footage? Under English law probably not.
Chris2048 10y ago
Can you give me details? I live in Ireland, a member of the EU. I once tried to get footage from a privately owned camera overlooking a public ATM. By the time I got a reply, they stated the footage on the HDD had already been wiped and overwritten...

jon-wood 10y ago

You can get access to security cameras, but you'll have to go hunting a bit. Some cameras are operated by local government, but the vast majority are run by privately and you'd need to track down each operator and request the relevant material. Depending how long its been they may or may not still have it, and I imagine despite the legal requirement to provide access a lot of people will initially refuse to go trawling through their CCTV archives to find the relevant material.

Brakenshire 10y ago

https://www.gov.uk/request-cctv-footage-of-yourself https://www.gov.uk/request-cctv-footage-of-yourself However, in practice different operators will have different standards, which makes it more complicated: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/22/cctv-cameras-capture-almost-every-move-on-city-streets-what-happens-when-you-ask-to-see-the-footage https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/22/cctv-cameras-... CCTV in Britain is not all its cracked up to be, on the negative and the positive side. Even if the operator was competent, and there was coverage of the area, I doubt in a conflict with a police officer that you'd get much out of it, most of the time, you'd need the sound, and higher quality footage, to get much of a sense of the situation.