CCTV Hub earns top award

Blackburn’s CCTV Hub has been awarded a top security award.

The CCTV hub, based in Blackburn town centre, was awarded the CCTV camera commissioner certificate of compliance.

It was awarded the accolade following an audit by the Security Camera Commissioner (SCC). It shows that the hub works with the Protection of Freedoms Act and the Secretary of State’s “Surveillance Camera Code of Practice”.

This shows that surveillance camera systems are being demonstrably operated ethically and legitimately to an appropriate standard, and not invading privacy.

It now has the official accreditation, which is the highest certificate available, and will hold it until the next audit in 2024. There are also annual ongoing checks.

The Hub covers not just Blackburn and Darwen, but also Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Preston and Rossendale.

It covers more than 250 cameras in these areas. It was centralised in 2017 to increase safety for residents and to make savings on CCTV spends for Council’s across East Lancashire Councils.

The hub operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and has access to both CCTV images and shop and pubwatch radios and police radios to provide a reactive and proactive response to incidents throughout the area.

Operators can record live incidents and pinpoint officers to the exact location of crimes as they happen. Footage can also be shared to larger police stations across the county. There is also a direct link to the communications room at Lancashire police.

Councillor Mustafa Desai, Executive Member for Adult Services and Prevention, said:

This CCTV hub provides such a valuable service on behalf of all residents across the area and this certificate is very much deserved. A lot of work goes in to the smooth running of the hub and making sure that law-abiding people’s privacy is respected while still helping to protect the public at large.”