Firstly, I'd like to thank our sponsor, Meyertech, for their generous sponsorship of this issue of the magazine. Meyertech are leading British manufacturers of CCTV command and control systems covering digital-IP, analogue and hybrid products.

In this issue, we have asked the question, is your CCTV system legal? It's not a spurious question but one that has been provoked by an organisation which believes that 95 per cent of CCTV systems in the UK are failing to comply with the CCTV Code of Practice as published by the Information Commissioner's Ofice (ICO).

CameraWatch goes on to claim that images obtained by non-compliant systems are potentially inadmissible in a court of law.

As it turns out, this is a highly debatable point, with two senior judges disagreeing on this very matter.

And the assistant information commissioner, Jonathan Bamford, tell us that enforcement of data protection takes a "horses for courses" approach, which depends very much on the potential harm that a system could do to individuals' privacy - clearly not a rigid box-ticking exercise.

Nonetheless, be cautious: the ICO has just been granted the power to fine organisations found to be in breach of the Data Protection Act to a maximum of £500,000.

To find out more, read our feature which starts on page 28 of the current edition. 

- Tom Reeve
Editor, CCTV Image

To read the May 2010 edition of CCTV Image, download your free copy here (PDF 4.3MB).

News

05 - Welcome & News by Peter Fry

09 - News

11 - Sponsor: Meyertech

Rooms with a View

13 - Sherlock Holmes Museum

16 - London Borough of Hounslow

21 - Douglas Village shopping
centre in Ireland

26 - Beach cameras

Cover story

28 - Is your system legal?

Features

32 - CCTV in cemeteries

35 - SSAIB profile

39 - Seeing in the dark

47 - Video transmission

Columns

56 - Martin Gill on CCTV research

54 - Talking Shop: Our Grumpy Old
consultants join forces

Plus

58 - Industry news

61 - Directory of companies