Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

CCTV and Town Centre Management

We currently have a monitored CCTV system for seven of our Council managed car parks and also for the pedestrianised areas of the town centre. The system only operates in public places. The service is managed by a team of trained personnel from an operations room located in the town centre of Hastings, which provides a daily 24 hour monitoring operation. We also work in partnership with Sussex Police in the support of the monitoring of Sussex Police public space CCTV cameras located within Hastings and St Leonards.

The CCTV system has four primary objectives:

• To enhance public and employee safety and thereby reduce the fear of crime
• To aid the detection of crime
• To prevent crime by identifying potential criminal activity and anti-social behaviour
• To help us and the Police respond more quickly to incidents

We have a CCTV Code of Practice in support of the delivery and management of CCTV operation.  We also have an agreed working protocol with Sussex Police in relation to the monitoring of police CCTV cameras and the management of evidence.

Where a crime is reported to the police that may have been recorded on CCTV, Sussex Police will have responsibility for the investigation of the crime and viewing of possible CCTV evidence in accordance with the above codes and protocols. 

The operation of the CCTV system complies with the Data Protection Act 2018 and procedures are in place to enable members of the public to request to view CCTV recordings of themselves.  Such a request must be directed through our Parking Services section, who will refer the matter to our Data Protection officer for a decision as to whether or not such a viewing will be authorised.