A solicitor’s letter arriving along with your normal business post can instantly put you on edge. It’s the worry of something new to be concerned about, some issue that needs to be addressed. Normally it’s complicated, expensive, time consuming and a headache you can do without. What would you do if that letter was a request for the supply of CCTV footage from your cameras?
Request for CCTV Footage
When an incident is caught on CCTV then a request may be submitted for a copy of that footage. This can be to support or refute a claim by a client of the solicitor. This can often prove invaluable to them when it comes to supporting a claim in court. This can be in relation to a car accident, an accident that occurs in a public place or indeed in the workplace.
The footage used by solicitors in proving their case will in the main come from CCTV cameras placed by commercial businesses. However, with the rise of smartphone use and dash cameras in cars there are many possibilities of where the footage can come from.
The right to access
If it is a Subject Data Access Request(SDAR), then you need to act in a timely fashion to address this. If somebody’s image has been recorded, then they have a right to request a copy of it. Once they follow the normal GDPR outlined process in their request then it must be supplied by the data controller within the organisation. You as a data controller must supply the footage in the required manner. Here is where it may get a little confusing, can you supply raw footage or will you be breaking data protection laws? The simple answer is – for a SDAR if images of other people appear in the footage, those faces need to be redacted. That involves the blurring out of others so they cannot be identified. This will ensure the footage provided will only have the image of their client shown. Remember, this even applies to stills from a video.
Having to comply with a request such as this can seem pretty daunting but it really does not have to be. Using an outside agency such as Datascan Redaction to complete the task for you will ensure you provide compliant footage with ease. We organise to get the raw footage from you, we redact it and supply it back to you in a secure fashion so you can supply the request. For more information on how the process works or if you need some advice on redaction you can speak to our team today.
Stay In Touch