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The need for an industry training and development strategy for CCTV operators

There is an increasing international recognition of

the importance of having a national CCTV operator

development strategy in place. The Security Industry Board (SIA) in the UK decided to recognise

CCTV operations involved in viewing of public

areas as a separate industry from manguarding

in 2004.

In the UK, diverse groups within security such as wheel clampers, door staff, guards and CCTV operators are all recognised as separate and definable parties who require their own training and certification. The registration requirements for CCTV were an acknowledgement of much of the current thinking in the industry that CCTV requirements are clearly distinguished from standard security guard training. Ironically, those operators working for companies who had no exposure to public surveillance were left out of these regulations. While these `private operators' are likely to be included at some future stage, there is no immediate responsibility to include them in the legislation.

With the ongoing registration in mind, concerned representatives within the industry who were prominent in managing sites or providing training and actively involved in the CCTV user group formed the Joint Training Group. This was aimed at assisting in defining the role of the CCTV operators, establishing a code of conduct, helping to write the CCTV operators specification and offering a range of advice to the SIA on matters concerning CCTV operations.

The result of the SIA intervention was aimed at a more professional approach to staffing and operating CCTV schemes. In line with this, compulsory licensing was introduced for CCTV schemes that observed public areas as any part of their surveillance. Training for operators of such schemes was made mandatory through legislation. A training curriculum was formulated and awarding bodies provided accredited qualifications in line with the requirements that were established. It seems a common issue internationally that security bodies and government authorities do not consider just how big and complex the industry is. This seems to go together with the industry being about as easy to turn as a supertanker going at full speed.

Peter Fry comments on the current state of registration in the May 2006 edition of CCTV Image, the magazine for the CCTV User Group. He notes that, while it has become illegal to operate a public space CCTV system without a licence, only approximately 200 licences have been issued out of a potential number estimated at 30-40 000. Fry goes on to note that there was simply not enough time for the many thousands of operators to get the training and apply for the relevant licensing. These kinds of figures certainly give an eye-opening perspective on the size of the training population that will need to be addressed in any country with extensive CCTV facilities. The consequences of this is that some operations have simply shut down, put systems on to record only or privatised the operation.

In South Africa, there have been similar concerns about CCTV personnel needing separate training. SIRA training requirements, while important for security officers in the guarding industry, do not provide an adequate solution to the requirements for CCTV personnel. While we do not have the same issues as the UK, the lessons that come out of their experience are useful to acknowledge. Indeed, they reflect some of the dynamics that we have had in our own industry here. It is ironic that the only unit standards available for CCTV operators over the past three years have been established for the casino industry. This is because the casino industry made a concerted push for the development and registration of these standards. Similarly, a couple of years ago the development of unit standards for technical personnel in the security industry was established by a group representing the major companies involved in the sale and installation of security systems. For them the involvement made good business sense.

It is clear that it is becoming more and more urgent to have a systematic formal framework established and approved within the relevant bodies for the training of CCTV operators. Previous experience in the South African security industry and lessons from the UK indicate that:

* Reconciling the perspectives and demands from different registering bodies and the security community is not an easy process.

* There needs to be the equivalent of the UK's Joint Training Group to establish what is required (as happened with the development of technical standards for the industry).

* Parties involved in the development of a solution have to be representative and committed to an industry-wide solution.

* It needs to be an open and inclusive process - the development of ad hoc standards and requirements based on the submission of individual parties is going to lead to long term issues.

* Getting a long term framework is not something to be rushed - it needs to be considered carefully and thoroughly.

Given that South Africa has been in the forefront of some of the development activities for CCTV operations, we should be able to develop some model solutions.

Dr Craig Donald is a human factors specialist in security and CCTV. He is a director of Leaderware, which provides instruments for the selection of CCTV operators, X-ray screeners and other security personnel in major operations around the world. He also runs CCTV Surveillance Skills and Body Language, and Advanced Surveillance Body Language courses for CCTV operators, supervisors and managers internationally, and consults on CCTV management. He can be contacted on 011 787 7811 or craig.donald@leaderware.com

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