CCTV recording- “overwritten”
CCTV recording of the infamous STC meeting on 16th June 2021 was “overwritten”. After weeks of email exchanges, I finally have STC answer for my CCTV recording request. In my opinion, this is yet another STC/Labour Party scandal.
It looks like Labour Party councillors can insult, threaten and shout at other councillors and not only not suffer punishment but evidence of their abysmal behaviour won’t see daylight. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you NEED to read this article before reading the conclusion below: https://shirebrook247.com/stc-meeting-threats-shouting-and-a-brazen-shut-up
IN CONCLUSION
I asked for a recording right after the meeting- in person and through email. When I asked if I could get a copy of the recording, STC leader Chris Kane replied bluntly “-NO”. No explanation, no reason, nothing. When I came back home- I wrote an email with a request to secure a recording and release it to me. For a long time, my email was ignored, as well as ALL of my renewed requests (yeah- there was more than one ignored email…).
I don’t know if Labour Party councillors pressured Town Hall civil servants to ignore my request or if the decision to ignore legitimate request was made by Civil Servants. I have to note here that Town Clerk was on annual leave at that point but on other hand- half a million pounds spent on STC staff wages indicate that someone should be able to read and reply to an email in less than 20 days, when Town Clerk is not in the office, right?
There was a reason why STC delayed with a response. According to the Information Commissioner Office, CCTV recordings are usually kept for 30 days. Still, you cannot send a complaint to ICO before 20 working days from your initial request to the camera owner. Then ICO needs a couple of days to process the request, then they should contact interested parties and give some time for a reply. So I strongly suspect that when I received acknowledgement of complaint from ICO, the recording was already “overwritten”.
However, I did not give up. I kept writing emails. Finally, after a short exchange of messages about “zoom recording”, I received a reply from the Town Clerk:
“I presume you are therefore referring to the cameras installed in the meeting room? If that is the case; the system was installed as part of the new building but has never been used or monitored. I’ve now had this looked at and it does briefly record for a number of hours but then constantly overwrites itself without storing the recordings anywhere. It also does not record sound at all. “
WHAT DID WE LEARN?
STC used a part of the “Town Hall loan” to buy and install a CCTV system inside one room in the building. One room! Usually accessible only by councillors, civil servants, and no one else. But there are no cameras outside and at reception where this system would be most helpful. Why is the system unmonitored, not even used? Why did they buy it at all??? Knowing what we know now: can we say that money used to purchase and install this system was… wasted?
LABOUR PARTY GOAL ACHIEVED, BUT…
Labour Party achieved their goal- the evidence of their rudeness, insolence, threats have been removed. No! Wait! Not removed- “overwritten”. Paradoxically- I didn’t get what I wanted, but I kinda achieved my goal as well.
I wanted to show residents the lousy behaviour of Labour Party councillors. I am more than sure that if the Labour Party had nothing to hide, I would have received the recording. As the Cllr Chris Kane and Cllr Steve Fritchley knew that the recording would show them in an awful light – they preferred to pretend that nothing had happened. In addition- allowing evidence to be “overwritten” revealed that taxpayers’ money was wasted on a system that does not work. For me, it’s like killing two birds with one stone.
“I will wipe that smirk off your face!”
“Shut up!”
“I know where you live!”
Which of those sentences should become the new motto of the Shirebrook Labour Party?
So that is the end. Case closed. Labour Party can go back to pretending that they represent a “gentler style of politics”…
Sylwester Zwierzynski
info@shirebrook247.com
Photo by Atypeek Dgn from Pexels.com
