Agenda item

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of the Built Environment that sought approval to the introduction of Body Worn Video (BWV) for use by Street Environment Officers (SEOs) who performed a key role in ensuring that the cleansing of the City of London’s streets was maintained to a high standard and that businesses disposed of their waste legally.

In response to Members’ question’s regarding safeguarding, the Assistant Director of Street Scene and Strategy advised that the introduction of the BWV equipment was compliant with human rights and data protection guidelines. A protocol had been created whereby recordings were incident-specific; persons receiving Fixed Penalty Notices would be informed verbally that they were being filmed by the BWV equipment. He added that non-evidential recording footage would be deleted after 30 days but footage relating to appeals could be kept longer then deleted when the case was complete.

RESOLVED – That:-

a)    The implementation of the use of Body Worn Video cameras from May 2015 be approved; and

b)    The Committee receive a further report following six months of implementation to review the effectiveness and impact of the equipment.