Cctv incident 2nd June 2014

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,
As reported in the Wirral Globe by chief reporter Emma Rigby a couple were monitored performing sexual acts by a Wirral Council Cctv operator in New Brighton at 0215 on the 2nd June 2014.
In the magistrate courts the prosecution reports that Wirral Council cctv operator contacted Merseyside Police and then patched through the live feed to their control room.
Please can you confirm that a Wirral Council employee monitored this couple using the cctv system before informing Merseyside Police?

Yours faithfully,

Michael Edwards

C D-Gill left an annotation ()

I would be good know did this individual hold an SIA CCTV licence? If they work for a private contractor this is a legal requirement and could possibly put any evidence gathered in jeopardy with a savvy defence.

mike cooke left an annotation ()

Its a real shame that in your time as a council employee came to an end,as a man with your fantastic valuable skills will undoubtably be sorely missed... or are you just upset that you were outwitted, or could it be that you now actually have to work for a living or is it the fact that you replaced so quickly.
So which ever one is twisting your melon man let me give you some advice get over it ,move on and wind your neck in. Your time has passed you were beaten by the better team...

George Skelton left an annotation ()

Hmmm

George Skelton left an annotation ()

Looks to me like our beloved council mistakenly got rid of several of its personnel who were truely an asset and kept some (two or three) of the ones who were not. Hopefully that will be put right real soon.

Michael Edwards left an annotation ()

Mike Cooke for one use your real name when telling me too wind my neck in and preferably come and say it to my face I am sure you know where I live.
I have no qualms about working for a living and do remember the 16/24 hour shifts myself and colleagues did to keep the place running abilities or not.
You make reference to a team winning?..so you are implying there was a team of people within community safety who were working together to make people unemployed, I applaud you for a job well done but spare a thought to those people who have not been able to find employment after years of service within the control room and know there job is still there.
Next time put your real name on the post maybe Mr Anon will do.

Michael Edwards left an annotation ()

Post your real name and we can then both air are views with the knowledge who we are talking too, I've got nothing to hide

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Good Afternoon

 

Thank you for your recent request made under the Freedom of Information
Act.

 

Wirral Borough Council can confirm that it holds no recorded information
in relation to your enquiry.

 

Kind regards,

 

Sent on behalf of

 

Tracy O'Hare

Information Management

Transformation and Resources

Wirral Council

 

This information supplied to you is copyrighted and continues to be
protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to
use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
example commercial publication, would require our specific permission, may
involve licensing and the application of a charge.

________________________________________

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Michael Edwards left an annotation ()

In the court minutes it clearly states a Council Cctv operator monitored the couple before passing it on to Merseyside Police, this individual would have had to provide a statement as witnessed on live feed,a disc would have been provided from the control room to Merseyside Police which would have been recorded on computer and a written report, the police officer collecting the disc would have to sign for it in the cctv log book.
I find it very hard to believe Wirral Council have no recorded information of this incident, if they haven't they would be breaking a whole host of data protection rules.
Smoke and mirrors as usual, open and transparent don't think so.

C D-Gill left an annotation ()

How can this be the case? What until the council can get its house in order and get CCTV Licenced contractors in?

There must be reference in the logs ect as the Police had been called and evidence including cctv footage and statements taken. This is of course the case unless the Police have lied along with the CPS and presented a fabricated case against the two!

Freedom of information against the Police and do open court transcripts form part of FOI ?

William Jenkins left an annotation ()

What a disgraceful, churlish, off hand way to treat this requester. He deserves better than that.He has justification in asking if someone is doing the job he was binned from .Either someone in the council did this monitoring or they did not. The answer states they have no recorded information for the question, not that a member of staff did or did not do it.
Mike, you should consider reporting this to the ICO who may get a straighter answer than you are ever likely to get.
And why on Earth does it take so long to get such simple information? Stop sweeping wrongs under the carpet.They are still wrongs even under there.

Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Cctv incident 2nd June 2014'.

I would like a simple yes or no if a Council worker monitored this incident then passed it onto Merseyside Police as stated in the court minutes logged by the prosecution council.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

Michael Edwards

Corrin, Jane, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr. Edwards,

Thank you for your request for an internal review of your recent Freedom
of Information enquiry.   The reviewing officer can confirm that the
Council’s response was correct and that no recorded information is held by
the Council in relation to the incident reported in the Wirral Globe.

 

The guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (available
[1]here) states:

 

Section 1(1) (a) of FOIA requires a public authority to inform a requester
whether it holds the information specified in the request. This is known
as ‘the duty to confirm or deny’. In most cases, a public authority will
be able to comply with its duty to confirm or deny under section 1(1) (a)
– in other words, it will be able to respond to a request by at least
informing the requester whether or not it holds the information.

 

In their reply, the responding officer stated “…Wirral Borough Council can
confirm that it holds no recorded information in relation to your
enquiry….”

 

The Council has therefore complied with this duty and the response
provided was in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

The question you posed “…..I would like a simple yes or no if a Council
worker monitored this incident then passed it onto Merseyside Police as
stated in the court minutes logged by the prosecution council….” is not
considered to be a request for recorded information and is therefore not
covered by the Act.  

Guidance on the types of information covered by the Act can be found on
the Information Commissioner’s website at [2]this link.

 

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner if you are
unhappy with this response. Their address is:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

[3]www.ico.gov.uk

Tel 0303 123 113

 

Yours Sincerely

Jane Corrin

Information and Central Services Manager

Transformation and Resources

Wirral Council

 

  

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Michael Edwards left an annotation ()

How can Wirral council have no recorded information of this incident when it was recorded on their cctv system, 30 days have passed since this incident so data would have been wiped from the dvr systems but written confirmation will be kept in the control room for future perusal.
So if a Wirral council cctv operator didn't inform Merseyside Police who did?.
It is clearly stated in the court minutes or did the prosecuting brief give false information?

William Jenkins left an annotation ()

Yes WBC has complied but its hardly in the spirit of the act. They think they know why the requester wants the information and do not want him to have confirmation of what he has read.
Lets look at what we do know or can surmise.
The Police say WBC told them of the incident and that is on record.
The council know that its likely that one of their staff was monitoring CCTV when they clearly should not have been.
This person did not make a log of the incident as they should not have been doing it. This would be a breach of the DPA1998.
If the council had investigated it, they would have on record if a member of staff did it or not. Confirm or deny as per the Act.
Therefore although they know about it, they are telling you they are doing nothing about it as it will look bad and previous employees who were told they were defunct would make hay.

Michael Edwards left an annotation ()

Touche..

C D-Gill left an annotation ()

The Security Industry Authority might be interested in private contractors operating CCTV equipment.

In a previous FOI request WBC stated nobody held a SIA Licence as they where not required.

This has criminal issues for the individual, the contractor including the directors being personally liable for deploying unlicensed operatives Under the Private Security Industry Act 2001. If this is the case the council would be stuck with egg on their face as a body who routinely assess licencing including Security at premises and events throughout the borough.

The council needs to come clean as it is quite clear something has gone wrong through poor supervision, negligence or cost cutting. The operatives are not licenced by an earlier admission by WBC.

Michael Edwards left an annotation ()

The control room handbook recently posted on this site clearly states that recorded cctv incidents that are requested by Merseyside Police and transferred to disc as I am sure this incident was should be recorded in the cctv log, date,time,control room officer signature,police officer signature along with a signed statement from the control room operator who provides the disc.
Merseyside Police would have all the information regarding the incident names,times etc recorded on their incident log.
As stated in a previous f.o.I request only under five people in the control room could have performed this task as agency staff have no access to these systems.
Still no real name from Mike Cooke but that's what you get from spineless people, must be all the stress they are going through.