When an individual makes a Subject Access Request (SAR), they are entitled to receive a copy of the information held about them, this will include CCTV footage where this is being captured.
A sport centre approached us for advice recently regarding a SAR specifically asking for CCTV footage of an incident on the sports centre’s premises.
There are always challenges with providing CCTV footage as part of a SAR.
Firstly how do you know what the individual who is making the request looks like? It’s easy if they are a member of staff and well known to the team, but if they are a visitor or customer as was the case in the sports centre footage, how do you ensure that you have the correct person? If the individual making the request is not known to you, you are going to have to seek photo ID so you can isolate them in the CCTV footage. You may also want to gather a rough idea of time and date for the footage that they are specifically asking for, which will make it easier to find the recording they are looking for. The individual is within their rights to ask for all video footage.
Now you have identified the individual and located them on the CCTV footage, the next task is to make a copy of it and then redact the other individuals in the footage who are not making the request. These individuals have the right to privacy and their images should not be disclosed as part of the SAR footage. This is often easier said than done. Unless you are using good CCTV software or your CCTV is monitored by a professional company with the ability to obscure the other individuals, this task can be time consuming and costly.
For clarity, when a request for CCTV footage is made, the organisation responsible for the footage should take all reasonable steps to stop the requested footage being overwritten as part of its normal processes. We have known individuals to complain to the Supervisory Body that the requested footage was not provided, and the supervisory body tends to take a dim view of receiving a request and then not actioning it. Occasionally the request is received too late and the footage has already been automatically overwritten as part of its normal archiving process.
If you are struggling with a SAR, we can help, you can contact us here