CCTV recording issues to be resolved – target date for resolution Mid-September  - Ruth Cooke Group Chief Executive (email dated 19th August 2020

Alas a year later and this is still not the case…

As of the 17th June 2021 GSA were confident that having fitted new cameras they’d have the ability to access the system remotely. This is required because GSA have routinely failed to gather footage as it meant sending a contractor to Oxford to retrieve any footage. This was further hindered as it required scrolling though hours of recordings to find the crime(s) that had been committed and reported.

This was acknowledged via a response to an official complaint 25th September 2020.

…we accept that the current process is not as efficient as it could be and ***** has been looking into the possibility of a system that we can remote access to prevent any unnecessary delays in retrieving essential footage. 

By June of 2021 the new system had been installed but GSA hadn’t consider how they would remotely access this system. This was an issue as they didn’t have a long enough cable to stretch from their offices in Chippenham to Oxford nor could they connect it to the internet. As of 17th June GSA had raised this issue with their IT who were now on the car and in contact with BT.

An Update…

It is distressing….

Crimes (including theft and assaults) have routinely been reported to GSA, their lack of response formed part of a complaint.

6th January 2020 - issued regarding an actual assault suffered by one of the residents. CCTV requested by the police 

8th January 2020 - email sent providing photos of the broken smoke alarms used by the group to gain complete access to the entire building, the failing internal and external doors, and the open CCTV cupboard that clearly showed that the front door (main point of forced entry) was not being covered. 

29th January 2020 - Email received from GSA stating that GSA were still investigating the assault and the ease of access into the building. However it was clear from previous communication that the footage had been wiped as it had passed the ten day storage capacity.

As of August 2021 - GSA still can’t remotely access the newly installed CCTV system. Not just a waste of time and money but also as they say ‘distressing’

Lack of adequate CCTC leads to…