This week Brighton advertised for “volunteers” to work 16 hours a month reviewing CCTV for the police.
https://www.lumesse-engage.com/policejobssurreyandsussex/jobs/cctv-volunteer-brighton-sysx-vol00258
This raises a ton of concerns. What kind of vetting and training would the volunteers get? What will get missed? CCTV is a crucial part of evidence gathering and leaving it to volunteers may make it even more difficult to obtain convictions for sexual predators, and we are currently at a 1.7% rape conviction rate in England and Wales.
That doesn’t even touch on privacy issues and how easily the system could be compromised. What if there is a voyeur or someone involved in drug dealing or crime who can just pass over inconvenient evidence of their associates. Combing CCTV is and should remain a core role in policing, this is 16 hours a month and then they would required to also go to court.
How does this help make us any safer?
This is an abdication of duty and a perfect scapegoat if it all goes wrong. We learned in the Casey review that the Met outsources all of their HR whilst paying the head of HR £200,000 a year. Now we are finding out the CCTV and evidentiary reviews are being outsourced to volunteers. This is unacceptable.