York and North Yorkshire councils are charging the police to watch their CCTV footage, it emerged today.
And that is a ‘crazy and unacceptable’ situation, say business leaders and politicians concerned about fighting crime.
City of York Council charges North Yorkshire Police £63.72 for the production of Evidence Packs, and when reviewing historic footage officers must pay £20.24 for the first 20 minutes of CCTV, and £32.92 per hour thereafter.
Phil Pinder, vice chair of York High Street Forum finds it astonishing. “What happens if there’s lots of crimes?” he said.
“The police will have to make the decision in terms of which ones they investigate and which ones they don’t based on a cost basis.”
We did ask the police to comment but they didn’t want to discuss this issue.
Phil added: “We’ve already funded these services through taxes – and you assume that the police would just have ready access to them like they do to our own business CCTV.
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“If the crimes committed or near our premises, the police come and request that footage.”
He said it now makes more sense as to why the police come to the businesses first.
“Presumably, they’re not being charged for access to private CCTV feeds whereas the council does.”
What the council says
YorkMix has been investigating this issue after we reported earlier this month that the historic Grade II listed cabmen’s shelter in Ripon had been vandalised again.
According to the Leader of Ripon City Council, catching those responsible will be difficult because Harrogate Borough Council charges the police £60 an hour to review CCTV footage.
The vandalism could have happened at any stage during the night, meaning hours of video to review.
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So we asked City of York Council if they charged police for reviewing their CCTV. This is what they told us.
“Our CCTV network covers public spaces across the city and is a key tool we use when working with the police to deal with incidents of crime and disorder.
“Our team also use our CCTV network to deal with car park security, event management, barrier controls, for traffic and travel information, for welfare and security checks on on-street staff, and for the production of evidence.
“Footage can be requested by the police when they’re investigating incidents. In the case of civil law, insurance companies and solicitors can also request footage when they’re investigating an insurance claim or other incident where the allegation needs to be verified.
“Along with the physical network of cameras, there are obviously significant costs connected to maintaining and monitoring this network including responding to requests for footage access, that requires the support of our teams.
“North Yorkshire Police are charged £63.72 for the production of Evidence Packs, and when reviewing historic footage they are charged £20.24 for the first 20 minutes, and £32.92 per hour thereafter.”
Costs involved
Andrew Williams, Ripon City Council leader called the charge made by Harrogate Council “crazy”. He says that it makes it too expensive because police would potentially have to review hours of overnight footage to capture one brief incident.
Cllr Williams has called on Harrogate Borough Council to reduce it to levels that are affordable to the police so they can be more effective in fighting crime in the city.
A Harrogate Borough Council spokesperson defended the charges saying:
“CCTV across the Harrogate district, which is owned and managed by Harrogate Borough Council, has on-going infrastructure and running costs.
“As well as the costs to maintain the service, there are also costs associated with a CCTV control room, staffing and the on-going safe storage of footage.
“Should anyone wish to obtain a copy of any footage, this would require an appropriate individual reviewing it first, followed by providing the footage securely along with a witness statement.
“All while adhering to the Data Protection Act 1998.
“Therefore, any third-party that wishes to view and use any CCTV footage – such as an insurance company, enforcement agency or the police – is charged to do so.”