Mobile Housing Services Staff - Bodycams Privacy Notice

Body worn CCTV is required to be worn by our Housing Services staff to protect them against potential anti-social behaviour, conflict and false accusations.  The CCTV units are worn overtly by our staff and will only be utilised when required.  In other words, they do not continually capture images but are activated by staff when necessary. 

As the 'data controller' for the personal information - or data - we hold about you, South Ayrshire Council decides how your personal information is used/processed, and what it is used for.

This Statement provides clarification on the use of body worn CCTV by our Housing Services staff and what information is collected through body worn CCTV recordings. It also provides information on the purpose of such recordings, how images are stored and retained and who you can contact should you require further information on your rights under data protection. 

Your personal data - what is it?

Personal data is information relating to a living person who can be identified from that data. Identification can be based on the information alone, or in conjunction with any other information. The processing of personal data is governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and supplemented by the Data Protection Act 2018.

What Personal Data will we collect from you?

We will only collect the minimum amount of personal information we need to protect staff. The personal data we will collect includes: 

• Video recording
• Audio recording

Body worn cameras may capture more sensitive information about individuals, including health details, race or ethnic origin and criminal behaviour.

How will we use your information?

The cameras our staff carry will only be activated when there is a perceived threat to staff or customers, or there is a breach of Health and Safety. You will be informed by the operator that the cameras are being activated.

Images of individuals may be collected on body worn CCTV units as necessary, to collect such images for the following purposes:

• To deter threatening or anti-social behaviour against our Housing Services staff
• Corroboration of incident occurring when a Housing team member is on duty for investigation purposes;
• To reduce the scope of false allegations against Housing staff;
• To protect lone working Housing staff

The footage may be:

• used as evidence of harassment or abuse against our staff and customers
• used to detect crime
• Passed to the Police for investigation when evidence of criminality is detected.

What is the legal basis for using/sharing your information?

The processing of the images captured by body worn CCTV units is either to comply with our legal obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 as per Article 6(1) (c) of the UK GDPR, or is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller.    The processing of this information is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest and for the detection of unlawful acts and to carry out a key function as set out in law, namely the Council's requirement to comply with the Scottish Secure Tenancy Agreements under the Housing (Scotland) Acts 2001 and 2014.

Local authorities such as South Ayrshire Council are authorised to employ the use of video recording to promote the prevention of crime or the welfare of victims of crime. This power is contained in section 163 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

Recordings may capture more sensitive information about people. We also need to process this more sensitive personal information about you for reasons of substantial public interest as set out in the Data Protection Act 2018. It is necessary for us to process it to carry out key functions as set out in law.

Who will we share your information with?

Where footage is collected, this will be assessed in the first instance by Senior Housing staff in line with our Body Worn CCTV operational protocol.  Where necessary your information will be shared with the following:

• Police Scotland for the purpose of investigating incidences of violence/aggression towards Council staff or other detected criminality.

The Council will ensure that any external agency which receives disclosed information is fully aware of and accepts its responsibility as outlined in within the UK General Data Protection Regulations and the Data Protection Act 2018.

How long do we keep hold of your information?

Recorded camera footage will be held for 30 days from the date of recording after which they are automatically deleted unless required to be kept for an investigation or complaint. Thereafter the footage will be retained in line with our Corporate Records Retention Schedule:

What are your rights?

The lawful basis for processing/using your personal data directly impacts which rights are available to you. For example, some rights will not apply, in this case we are not required to:

• erase your personal information.
• enable the right to data portability

However, you do have the following rights and can ask us to:

• correct your personal information if it is inaccurate;
• complete your personal information if it is incomplete;
•  restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances

You also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. 

What about Automated Decision- Making?

The Council does not use profiling or automated decision-making. Some processes are semi-automated (such as data matching for the prevention or detection of fraud), but an actual person will always be involved before any decision is reached affecting any individual.

Do you require this statement in a different format?

Please contact us if you require this information in an alternative format.

How can you get in touch with us?

If you wish to obtain any records held by the Council relating to you, or if you have any general data protection queries, please contact the Council's Data Protection Service at:

Address:
Data Protection Officer
South Ayrshire Council
County Buildings
Wellington Square
Ayr
KA7 1DR

Email: DataProtection@south-ayrshire.gov.uk 

Telephone: 01292 612 223

Are you dissatisfied with the way your Personal Information has been handled?

If you are unhappy with the way we have dealt with your personal information, you can complain to the Council's Data Protection Officer using the contact details noted above.

If you remain dissatisfied after contacting us, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner (https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/):

Address:
Information Commissioner's Office - Scotland
Queen Elizabeth House
Sibbald Walk
Edinburgh
EH8 8FT 

Email: Scotland@ico.org.uk

Telephone: 0303 123 1115