Gatso Calibration and Training

The request was successful.

Dear Northamptonshire Police,
I would like to request a FOI disclosure which is basically to understand the annual money payments to Serco and Gatso for the calibration and maintenance of cameras, staff training, and how the speed is calculated as part of the secondary check.
Q1. How many fixed post Gatso (FPG) and Gatso Red Light(GRL) cameras were in use, on an annual basis, by your partnership in the past three financial years?
Q2.For these cameras, for the past three financial years, what were the total cost amounts paid(TCAP) for the annual calibration of these cameras, identifying the TCAP to intermediate agents such as Serco and the company Gatsometer B.V, and the additional amounts of V.A.T added ?
Q3.Please confirm if the partnership have ownership of these cameras, paid in full, or any other arrangement.
Q4.Please confirm if the calibration contracts (CC) have been agreed for a fixed term with break penalty clauses or negotiated annually, if the CC are inclusive of a greater contract regarding maintenance, and who signed the contracts on behalf of the partnership.
Q5.After the cameras have been returned following calibration please confirm if, apart from the calibration certificate, Gatsometer B.V provide a report on any faults detected and items replaced and, if so, please identify the items, including batteries, that have required replacement.
Q6 After calibration, please confirm if the cameras are returned with a shutter speed of two photographs at intervals of 0.5 seconds, and if your Camera Enforcement Officers make any adjustments to the shutter speed or flash setting prior to reinstallation and, if so, what are the setting adjustments?.
Q7.Regarding the secondary check viewing, please advise how the viewing staff are trained for their task, who does the training, are certificates of completion provided, and are the staff given post training assessments or hard copy reference documentation. Is the work of the viewing staff audited or reviewed at intervals?
Q8.For FPG please confirm the distance between the calibration lines on the road which are part of the secondary check, so that one can calculate the speed if five lines are passed.

Yours faithfully,

dennis fallon

Brown Colin, Northamptonshire Police

Dear Mr Fallon

RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Our Ref: 003815/11

I write in reply to your e-mail received 26/08/2011 requesting
information as reproduced below.

Our reference for the request is 003815/11.

Your request is being processed and you may expect a reply within 20
working days, which will be 27/09/2011. In some circumstances we may
not be able to achieve this timescale, but if this is likely to be the
case you will be informed at the earliest opportunity and given a
revised timescale.

Yours sincerely

Colin Brown C1199 | Data Protection/FOI Officer
Information Unit, Professional Standards Department
03000 111 222 | Ext 2355
[email address]
Force Headquarters, Wootton Hall, Northampton, NN4 0JQ
In my absence please contact Ext 8003
The contents of this e-mail should be treated as RESTRICTED unless
otherwise indicated.

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Brown Colin,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Fallon   

RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 
Our Ref: 003815/11

With reference to your e-mail received 30/08/2011 requesting information
as reproduced below:

 I would like to request a FOI disclosure which is basically to understand
the annual money payments to Serco and Gatso for the calibration and
maintenance of cameras, staff training, and how the speed is calculated as
part of the secondary check.

     Q1. How many fixed post Gatso (FPG) and Gatso Red Light(GRL) cameras
were in use, on an annual basis, by your partnership in the past three
financial years?

     Q2.For these cameras, for the past three financial years, what were
the total cost amounts paid(TCAP) for the annual calibration of these
cameras, identifying the TCAP to intermediate agents such as Serco and the
company Gatsometer B.V, and the additional amounts of V.A.T added ?

     Q3.Please confirm if the partnership have ownership of these cameras,
paid in full, or any other arrangement.
     Q4.Please confirm if the calibration contracts (CC) have been agreed
for a fixed term with break penalty clauses or negotiated annually, if the
CC are inclusive of a greater contract regarding maintenance, and who
signed the contracts on behalf of the partnership.

     Q5.After the cameras have been returned following calibration please
confirm if, apart from the calibration certificate, Gatsometer B.V provide
a report on any faults detected and items replaced and, if so, please
identify the items, including batteries, that have required replacement.

     Q6 After calibration, please confirm if the cameras are returned with
a shutter speed of two photographs at intervals of 0.5 seconds, and if
your Camera Enforcement Officers make any adjustments to the shutter speed
or flash setting prior to reinstallation and, if so, what are the setting
adjustments?.

     Q7.Regarding the secondary check viewing, please advise how the
viewing staff are trained for their task, who does the training, are
certificates of completion provided, and are the staff given post training
assessments or hard copy reference documentation. Is the work of the
viewing staff audited or reviewed at intervals?

     Q8.For FPG please confirm the distance between the calibration lines
on the road which are part of the secondary check, so that one can
calculate the speed if five lines are passed.

I can confirm that Northamptonshire Police holds the information requested
as follows:

Q1, We only use the Gatso Red Light camera of which we have 2 cameras.
Q2, Financial all to Serco LTD - Serco Home Affairs
2008/2009 - Nil
2009/2010 - £1094.51 inc 17.5% VAT and £1479.48 inc 15% vat
2010/11 - Nil
Please note the cameras were calibrated in March of each year, however,
they were not recalibrated in March 2011 when the partnership disbanded
and we stopped Fixed Camera enforcement including the Red Light camera's.

Q3, The Camera's are owned by the Police whilst the housings are regarded
as street furniture and are owned by Northamptonshire County Council. All
equipment is owned in full.

Q4, Only Gatso or Serco can calibrate the equipment. Having checked with
Serco there are no formal contracts in place for repairs and calibration
to the equipment. The standard practice was to issue purchase orders for
calibrations and repairs as and when the equipment was returned to Serco.

Q5, Northamptonshire Police are not aware of any fault reports being
supplied.
Q6, The interval between the two exposures is operator set to 1 second.
Q7, Viewing staff are trained on the job with the assistance of a process
manual, and assessed until at a competent level by a senior viewer. No
certificates are awarded. Post training, the work is periodically
reviewed, and audited if necessary.

The process is quite simple that the first image must show the vehicle
'straddling' the white stop line and the lights must be clearly on Red.
Whilst the vehicle has already contravened the Red Light by the time the
first image is taken our policy is to also review the second image to show
a distinct movement further into the junction. If there is no distinct
movement we give the driver the benefit of the doubt that they were late
breaking.

Q8, Not applicable as we only use the Gatso Red Light camera for red-light
infringement only, not for speed.

I trust you find this information to be satisfactory but if you have any
further queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Northamptonshire Police provides a review and appeals procedure within the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If you decide to make an
appeal and, having followed the full process you are still dissatisfied,
you will then have the right to direct your comments to the Information
Commissioner who will give due consideration to the matter. See Appendix
'a' attached.

Yours sincerely

Colin Brown C1199 | Data Protection/FOI Officer
Information Unit, Professional Standards Department
03000 111 222 | Ext 2355
[email address]
Force Headquarters, Wootton Hall, Northampton, NN4 0JQ
In my absence please contact Ext 8003

The contents of this e-mail should be treated as RESTRICTED unless
otherwise indicated.
<<appeals procedure.doc>>

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Dear Mr Brown,
I would like to thank you, and the people who have advised you, for an exceptionally clear and helpful reply.

Yours sincerely,

dennis fallon