Page 3502 - Week 11 - Thursday, 19 September 2013
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relevant to the initial question and the matters that have arisen in the answering of the question. I do not think that children who are failing to achieve have been addressed by Ms Burch’s comments.
Civic—talking CCTV cameras
MR GENTLEMAN: Minister, can you please outline for the Assembly what the trial of speakers for the CCTV system that was recently announced involves.
MR CORBELL: I thank Mr Gentleman for his question. A new talking CCTV speaker system is being trialled in Civic currently to help prevent crime by targeting crime hotspots. The speaker system commenced on 12 September this year and will be trialled over a three-month period. The speaker will broadcast a message to let people know that they are being viewed and recorded by the ACT Policing CCTV monitoring network.
The purpose of the speaker is to help act as a crime prevention tool in certain crime hot spots. This is in response to incidents where ACT Policing CCTV operators have identified public assets being vandalised. If the operators had been able to tell the offenders that they were being viewed and police were on their way, it is likely that some damage at least would have been prevented.
The speaker is currently being trialled at the corner of Alinga and Mort streets in the Civic bus interchange. Signage is installed to inform members of the public of the location of the speaker.
Talking CCTV has proven to be successful in other CCTV networks around the world—for example, in the United Kingdom. ACTION buses currently use speakers linked with CCTV at the Belconnen bus interchange.
Privacy was a key issue considered in the development of the trial. The speakers do not have the capacity to listen to or record any audio and they are compliant with the ACT government’s CCTV code of practice.
ACT Policing have prepared procedures for the use of the speaker, including a set of scenarios where the speaker can be used and about the use of the speaker along with current crime prevention strategies. Only ACT Policing duty sergeants will use the speaker to broadcast the messages, and a radio at the CCTV monitoring centre will be used to relay messages on an encrypted channel to another radio at the speaker location.
The speaker will be used by ACT Policing in the following circumstances: to deter antisocial behaviour; to deter criminal behaviour; or to ensure the safety of police officers and members of the public.
This is a very useful trial. We need to see whether it does have a practical impact on the effectiveness of the CCTV speaker system. The cost of the trial is very modest, at approximately $9,200. At the end of the three-month period, the government will be in a better position to determine whether this is an initiative that should be broadened and whether it has a level of effectiveness that warrants further ongoing use.
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