A full list of how we use CCTV can be found in the council's Fair Processing Notice.
We advise that anyone who visits the council's sites, or works for the council, reads the Fair Processing Notice and checks it regularly as it is subject to change and will be how the council communicates any changes to the use of their CCTV systems.
The council is also committed to the privacy of its employees and members of public who visit council sites and are captured by the CCTV systems. In order to ensure that surveillance camera systems are used appropriately and lawfully the council has a policy which governs the use of CCTV.
The CCTV Policy adopts the Information Commissioner’s CCTV Code of Practice for Data Protection and the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s Code of Practice which governs the operational aspects of a CCTV system. Please note that the council’s CCTV policy is regularly updated and subject to change.
The council is also committed to transparency, and any documents which pertain to CCTV will be published on this page as and when they are implemented.
All of the council's CCTV systems have an automatic overwrite after 28 days; however, some footage may be deleted sooner than this. If you make a request for footage of an incident older than 28 days, the footage will no longer exist.
CCTV and the Data Protection Act 2018
There are several ways in which the council can lawfully release CCTV footage under the Data Protection Act 2018.
Can I see CCTV images of me?
The Data Protection Act 2018 gives living individuals certain rights to their personal information. One of these rights is called Subject Access which gives people the right to request information held on them by any organisation, but it does not give them an automatic legal right to obtain personal information held about other people. For example, if you wish to see a copy of your personnel file held by your employer, you are not entitled to see the personal information of other people who may be referenced in your file.
If there was a car accident caught on CCTV and one of the parties involved wanted the footage for insurance purposes to identify the owner of the other car involved, if applying under a Subject Access request it could be likely that the footage of the other person may not be released to them.
If you need CCTV footage of a car accident the usual route for the council to consider releasing it would be a request for disclosure under Schedule 2, Part 1 (5), which would need to come from your solicitor or your insurance company. The council would then decide if releasing the footage would be lawful, and if so they would release the information for the insurance company to take appropriate action.
If you wish to make a request to see CCTV footage we require the following:
- Sufficient ID to prove your identity
- Sufficient information in order for us to identify you, such as clothing or car description. The CCTV operators will need to identify you in the footage.
- Accurate information on location, date and time of the footage you require.
You can make a Subject Access Request online or email sar@leics.gov.uk. Alternatively you can write to us at:
Information Governance Team
Leicestershire County Council
Room 300b
County Hall
Glenfield
Leicestershire
LE3 8RA
Releasing CCTV Footage to other organisations
The council occasionally receive requests from other organisations for CCTV footage, which might be for:
- The prevention of crime
- The investigation and detection of crime, including identification of offenders.
- Identification of witnesses
- Providing evidence in criminal proceedings
- Providing evidence in civil proceedings or tribunals.
Where footage is being used for a criminal investigation or legal proceedings and will prejudice those cases, the council will likely refuse any further requests for the same footage.
The types of organisations the council release footage to may be, but not limited to, the following:
- Any national police authority
- Solicitors
- Insurance companies
- Border agencies
- DWP
CCTV and Freedom of Information
Where CCTV footage doesn’t contain any personal information the Council may be able to release it under a Freedom of Information request.