Agenda item

Superintendent Vickers will attend the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed Superintendent Phil Vickers to the meeting. Superintendent Vickers was a Lincolnshire Police officer on secondment to the Safer Communities Team at Lincolnshire County Council.

He explained that Lincolnshire Police and Lincolnshire Police Authority received regular requests from district councils for funding contributions to their CCTV services. This issue had also been raised with the Police and Crime Commissioner following his election November 2012.

Members were informed that CCTV arrangements differed greatly across the county. There were six CCTV control rooms that operated a different number of hours a day, using different technologies, platforms and ways of recording and providing evidence. The issue of CCTV was raised at a meeting of the Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership when the Police and Crime Commissioner said he would not fund the different CCTV arrangements across the county and challenged members of the Community Safety Partnership to develop a more financially efficient, co-ordinated solution.

Lincolnshire County Council commissioned an independent technical feasibility study of possibilities for CCTV in Lincolnshire. As part of the report, consideration was given to different operating models  potential income streams and technical issues. The draft report was made available to community safety partners in July 2013, when a number of technical corrections were made prior to the preparation of the final report. The final report would be presented to the Police and Crime Commissioner who would consider whether he was prepared to commit any funding to CCTV.

Superintendent Vickers summarised the findings in the technical study including the required investment and potential savings of moving to a countywide CCTV model with one or two control rooms. The level of support for these proposals had varied between districts, which meant that changing the operating model would not be possible in the short-term.

To provide a more integrated approach in the medium term, Procurement Lincolnshire was working with the Safer Communities team and community safety partners. When districts needed to replace and update their equipment, Procurement Lincolnshire would co-ordinate contracts so that the platform on which all districts were working was compatible. Potential advantages which were highlighted included remote monitoring during an emergency where local monitoring might not be possible and opportunities to change the county CCTV model in the medium to long term.

Committee members thoroughly considered the presentation and asked a range of questions.

The costs associated with new operating models which were provided in the feasibility study were based on bespoke new equipment and bolt-ons to make current hardware compatible. It was not anticipated that there would be an opportunity to generate income from the sale of old equipment because of the rate at which it would become obsolete.

Members were informed that the feasibility study provided a technical analysis of different models only and did not make any recommendations. Using Procurement Lincolnshire to develop a combined platform was not considered in the report.

Some concern was expressed that aligning the platforms used by the six control rooms would prove more expensive than changing the operating model. It was suggested that cost-benefit analysis of this might be useful. Members were informed that providing a platform from which all authorities could work would not increase costs as equipment would be only be replaced in-line with each district’s renewal schedule. A common platform would not mean all authorities had to use the same supplier, but that the requirement for compatibility would form part of the technical specification for the contract.

Some Councillors were concerned about whether, with the speed at which technology advanced, it would be possible to establish a common platform when equipment had life cycles of five and ten years. The Community Safety and Licensing Service Manager informed Members that, if necessary, bolt-ons could be purchased to enable the transmission of images to other control rooms in an emergency.

The Committee asked how it could be kept abreast of the work that was being undertaken with Procurement Lincolnshire. They were informed that there would be ongoing liaison between Procurement Lincolnshire and the relevant officers from each district council.

Councillors were informed that the costs quoted in the technical report did not include all potential expenses of changing the operating model. Additional costs could be incurred as part of any release of staff.

There was some discussion about the beneficiaries of CCTV and how footage had contributed to the prosecution of offenders. Superintendent Vickers explained that the police force and police authority had not made contributions to CCTV, citing national guidance which stated a police force should not make financial contribution to CCTV systems or control public space CCTV systems. While members noted the provision of CCTV was a discretionary service, they argued its availability was of particular benefit to police officers. The Superintendent argued in favour of the wider benefits for local communities, businesses and visitors.

The Chairman thanked Superintendent Vickers for his presentation and answering members’ questions. The Committee showed their appreciation with a round of applause.

Following discussions, Members agreed how they wanted to follow-up after the meeting.

Recommendations:

That the Chairman writes to Superintendent Vickers

1.    Thanking him for attending the meeting

2.    Asking for a copy of the draft and finalised technical reports

3.    Asking for a written copy of the brief that has been given to Procurement Lincolnshire

4.      Asking who will carry out cost-benefit analysis of any contract in which Procurement Lincolnshire is involved