On 25th May 2018 new regulations in EU law came into place relating to data protection and privacy. Commonly referred to as GDPR the regulation has many implications for businesses who collect and process information on individuals and as such businesses have to ensure that processes are in place in order to comply. Failure to do can lead to potential fines and penalties. 

Something that falls under this remit is CCTV and how footage of individuals is collected and used. With this in mind a question a lot of people have been asking is whether this applies to body worn cameras. Body worn cameras have seen a huge rise in popularity recently with many benefits that can help to keep users safe and diffuse potentially dangerous situations. As such Body worn cameras are now commonly used in many industries including public service, security, retail, hospitality and stadia to name a few.

As far as GDPR, body worn cameras do not fall under the same category as CCTV, there is however a lot of cross over with the guidelines in particular if they plan to use the footage as supporting evidence. In brief the GDPR regulations surrounding this details that the data should be: 

Processed lawfully and transparently
Collected for a legitimate and specific reason within the confines of the law. It should not be further processed outside of these confines
Relevant and limited to what is necessary
Accurate o Kept securely and for no longer than necessary
Complaint with the individual’s (data subjects) rights
Not further transferred without adequate security in place

There are also guidelines in terms of where you can film that need to be adhered to. In short any area where it can be reasonably expected that an individual will be monitored by a traditional CCTV system is ok. There are however further guidelines to help us define this:

Filming must take place in a public or semi-public place. Semi-public refereeing to private property that gives access to the public e.g. a supermarket.
Rights to privacy often depend on what is being filmed, for example those being filmed conducting illegal activity would be reasonably expected to have less entitlement to privacy.
In private places such as households permission must first be granted to film

In order to comply with the above it is important to consider the device that is being used. For example some Body Worn Cameras offer features such as time and date stamps. Others have security measures in place to control who exports the data with access only granted to authorised users. Features such as these help ensure compliance.

In summary Body Worn Cameras are compatible with GDPR regulations as long as the data is collected in the correct manner, treated properly following on from this and not kept any longer than needed.

 

*The above information to be used as a guide only. If unsure please conduct further checks or call our team on 01745 335811