Having read the monthly Humberside Police Pocklington Provincial Reports for the past four years I can confirm that the CCTV cameras for Pocklington are in locations with little or no crime and must be relocated to areas where there is evidence of crime. Failure to do so is a breach of the Home Office Surveillance Camera Commissioners compliance guidelines.

Pocklington Town Council Clerk Gordon Scaife

Please see Humberside Police Pocklington Provincial Update November 2019 (click on the link to read)

The report for November is very similar to those for the past four years.

“In Pocklington overall crime continues to go down.”

The report even identifies where crime is taking place:

“These patrols include regular checks on peripheral areas at Pocklington Infants’ School, Maxwell Road (periodic reports of criminal damage and youths causing annoyance), All Saints Church (periodic reports of anti-social behaviour on an evening), the Tennis Club (reports of anti-social behaviour, (ASB)) and town car parks (reports of low level anti-social behaviour).”

The lawful purpose of the Pocklington CCTV cameras is to address crime and thus must be relocated from the Town Centre to Pocklington Infants’ School, Maxwell Road; All Saints Church; the Tennis Club and town car parks.

I do not understand why this has not happened already. The legislation does not permit CCTV cameras to remain in areas where there is little or no crime. I recommend that Pocklington Town Council (PTC) discuss this with Humberside Police. Humberside Police, in turn, may find it useful to discuss this with their West Midlands colleagues.

I have requested PTC to comply with the relevant legislation and relocate the Pocklington CCTV cameras to areas of crime.

In addition, as per the Freedom of Information Act, I have requested all information held by PTC in relation to crime for the locations where the CCTV cameras currently are.

I will now give PTC 20 working days to fulfil my FOI request. If they fail to provide this I will have no option but to refer the case to the Surveillance Camera Commissioner.