LOCAL CCTV SCHEMES CAN MAKE POSITIVE IMPACT DESPITE GDPR CURBS SAY GARDAÍ

Community CCTV schemes being established in Co Monaghan would make a significant and positive impact on crime prevention and detection despite some of the restrictions on their operation dictated by GDPR rules, Garda Superintendent Pat O’Connell told the recent meeting of the Co Monaghan Joint Policing Committee. He was responding to views expressed by some JPC members during a debate that the fact that the Gardaí did not have access to live footage from the schemes would limit their effectiveness. Discussion arose when Fianna Fáil member of Monaghan Co Council Raymond Aughey asked if there would be a live feed from the Monaghan Town CCTV scheme into the Garda Station.

He asked if there was any way that such a provision could be brought about. “It makes no sense without it,” was his view. Cathaoirleach Councillor Brian McKenna (Sinn Féin) remarked: “We have been through this before.” Councillor Aughey thought it would be “a bane of the system” if the Garda couldn’t have real-time access to it. Councillor Colm Carthy (Sinn Féin) asked for the JPC to be provided with the final lay-out and design of the CCTV schemes that were being proposed for Co Monaghan towns. He asked if, once they were signed off on, camera locations could be moved if required. He also enquired what resources were required from An Garda Síochána for the running of the systems. Councillor Carthy also wanted to know if the schemes would require a dedicated member of staff assigned to them, and asked why it took so long for the Garda Commissioner to sign off on schemes if they did not have much budgetary impact on the structure of the…