Putting up CCTV footage on Social Media?
Discussion
Hopefully this is the right place... - A while back I installed some CCTV cameras for a friend's house and business, and today had a call saying someone came into the front of the reception area and just brazenly stole a charity box of which there is clear footage of him walking out with it.
He wanted to share the footage to his social media pages straight away, but I said I think it would be better for the police to do that, otherwise he might be opening himself up to fines from ICO, however I have seen many businesses just upload videos/images.
Just wondered what people's thoughts were, and if anyone had actually uploaded footage of a crime to social media channels (and more importantly did they get fined)...
Thanks in advance.
He wanted to share the footage to his social media pages straight away, but I said I think it would be better for the police to do that, otherwise he might be opening himself up to fines from ICO, however I have seen many businesses just upload videos/images.
Just wondered what people's thoughts were, and if anyone had actually uploaded footage of a crime to social media channels (and more importantly did they get fined)...
Thanks in advance.
Brother D said:
He wanted to share the footage to his social media pages straight away, but I said I think it would be better for the police to do that, otherwise he might be opening himself up to fines from ICO, however I have seen many businesses just upload videos/images.
How is uploading a video interfering with the Data Protection Act? If you couldn't publically produce the images from the CCTV, then what's the point in having the CCTV?I don't see any legal issue in you doing that, plenty of people do it like you said. Even the police do it! And they're not above the law. (Even if a few of them like to think that).
I heard something about this on TV the other day - something along the lines of ..........
Inform the Police.
Give the footage to the Police.
Let the Police decide if they want to put any of it on Social Media.
Don't put it on social media yourself.
The reason being that if you put it on Social media and the Police do catch and want to prosecute then it can be argued (by the defence) that by putting it on social media you have inadvertently swayed/jeopardised the outcome of the court hearing (in a negative way).
When you think about it - when the Police do release footage, in the first instance it's usually just a still picture. It's only in long on going or serious cases that you might see full footage (or if the case has been tried and found guilty)
So I guess the Police know what they are doing.
Inform the Police.
Give the footage to the Police.
Let the Police decide if they want to put any of it on Social Media.
Don't put it on social media yourself.
The reason being that if you put it on Social media and the Police do catch and want to prosecute then it can be argued (by the defence) that by putting it on social media you have inadvertently swayed/jeopardised the outcome of the court hearing (in a negative way).
When you think about it - when the Police do release footage, in the first instance it's usually just a still picture. It's only in long on going or serious cases that you might see full footage (or if the case has been tried and found guilty)
So I guess the Police know what they are doing.
The scrote stole a charity box. Even if the police mix up their priorities and succeed in detection, the scrote will get no significant punishment through the legal system. Worse still, a successful prosecution will simply cost the taxpayer a lot of money - far more than has been stolen - to manage the scrote through the system. The charity will not get the money.
CCTV shaming may be the only bit of justice available.
CCTV shaming may be the only bit of justice available.
Squiggs said:
I heard something about this on TV the other day - something along the lines of ..........
Inform the Police.
Give the footage to the Police.
Let the Police decide if they want to put any of it on Social Media.
Don't put it on social media yourself.
The reason being that if you put it on Social media and the Police do catch and want to prosecute then it can be argued (by the defence) that by putting it on social media you have inadvertently swayed/jeopardised the outcome of the court hearing (in a negative way).
When you think about it - when the Police do release footage, in the first instance it's usually just a still picture. It's only in long on going or serious cases that you might see full footage (or if the case has been tried and found guilty)
So I guess the Police know what they are doing.
Its a tricky one - I see it from this perspective, we all know that even if the police were interested in someone who has clearly stolen 100 quid, would unlikely result in a small fine and no consequences. My friend is of the opinion that by uploading he's protecting other businesses in the area by making them aware that this person is operating locally. Inform the Police.
Give the footage to the Police.
Let the Police decide if they want to put any of it on Social Media.
Don't put it on social media yourself.
The reason being that if you put it on Social media and the Police do catch and want to prosecute then it can be argued (by the defence) that by putting it on social media you have inadvertently swayed/jeopardised the outcome of the court hearing (in a negative way).
When you think about it - when the Police do release footage, in the first instance it's usually just a still picture. It's only in long on going or serious cases that you might see full footage (or if the case has been tried and found guilty)
So I guess the Police know what they are doing.
Seems a bit of grey area, but the last thing I want is for my mate to be prosecuted for uploading the video, which I wouldn't put past the police as it's a open/shut case to improve their stats vs finding out who the lovely person is that goes around stealing from charities...
Brother D said:
Its a tricky one - I see it from this perspective, we all know that even if the police were interested in someone who has clearly stolen 100 quid, would unlikely result in a small fine and no consequences. My friend is of the opinion that by uploading he's protecting other businesses in the area by making them aware that this person is operating locally.
Seems a bit of grey area, but the last thing I want is for my mate to be prosecuted for uploading the video, which I wouldn't put past the police as it's a open/shut case to improve their stats vs finding out who the lovely person is that goes around stealing from charities...
Who would prosecute your friend? Seriously - there has to be a complainant, and there's no way the low-life is going to make that complaint.Seems a bit of grey area, but the last thing I want is for my mate to be prosecuted for uploading the video, which I wouldn't put past the police as it's a open/shut case to improve their stats vs finding out who the lovely person is that goes around stealing from charities...
This case is sort of similar (though value of theft way higher): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4applk_4Xs4 - absolutely brazen.
Squiggs said:
I heard something about this on TV the other day - something along the lines of ..........
Inform the Police.
Give the footage to the Police.
Let the Police decide if they want to put any of it on Social Media.
Don't put it on social media yourself.
The reason being that if you put it on Social media and the Police do catch and want to prosecute then it can be argued (by the defence) that by putting it on social media you have inadvertently swayed/jeopardised the outcome of the court hearing (in a negative way).
When you think about it - when the Police do release footage, in the first instance it's usually just a still picture. It's only in long on going or serious cases that you might see full footage (or if the case has been tried and found guilty)
So I guess the Police know what they are doing.
In the case of something like a charity box being stolen there is no judgment to be made, they either did or it didn't and the evidence is the CCTV. It's not a murder trial with a jury, it's a simple situation for the case and it's just the punishment to be decided.Inform the Police.
Give the footage to the Police.
Let the Police decide if they want to put any of it on Social Media.
Don't put it on social media yourself.
The reason being that if you put it on Social media and the Police do catch and want to prosecute then it can be argued (by the defence) that by putting it on social media you have inadvertently swayed/jeopardised the outcome of the court hearing (in a negative way).
When you think about it - when the Police do release footage, in the first instance it's usually just a still picture. It's only in long on going or serious cases that you might see full footage (or if the case has been tried and found guilty)
So I guess the Police know what they are doing.
I do get the feeling it's not that simple though and likely all common sense has been removed from the legal proceedings since that's the way we appear to have gone.
16v_paddy said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
It's the "can be used to identify" bit that makes it come under the data protection act which is why I personally wouldn't put it up on social media until somebody who is properly qualified tells me it's ok to do so"CCTV operators are not allowed to disclose images of identifiable people to the media - or to put them on the internet - for entertainment. Images released to the media to help identify a person are usually disclosed by the police."
So unless you're putting it on You've Been Framed, it's fine as far as I'm concerned.
And I wouldn't worry about any sort of fine from the ICO. I've been involved in a "data leak" once where some idiot sent an email to 200 other people and you could see all the emails. The ICO deemed that it wasn't worth the hassle of fining us.
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