Countryside wardens and officers use of Body Worn Video Cameras privacy notice

This page explains why and how any video/audio information will be held about you and processed by our Countryside team.

Please read our general privacy notice, and Parks and open spaces service privacy notice, for information on how we process all other information, the General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018.

What we do

The Countryside team are a part of Environment Services within BCP council. We have responsibility for the management and protection of over 1,100 hectares of SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) heathland, Nature reserves, parks and semi-natural open spaces.

Many of our officers & wardens perform duties within remote areas, alone, such as:

daily livestock health checks as part of BCP councils conservation grazing programme
foot patrols to ensure public open spaces are safe, clean, protected, attractive and easy to use
to provide site visitors with advice and information on nature reserves, such as site ecology
to enforce dogs-on-leads during the nesting seasons and promote responsible dog ownership
and to provide a visible presence on heathlands within BCP council to promote responsible use and deter undesirable activities.

The purposes we may use your personal information for

to protect and support Countryside wardens/officers whilst they are carrying out their duties (often alone) away from the office in sometimes remote locations.
undertaking necessary investigations following complaints/information or reports from the public
to produce statistics and reports. Statistics are used so that individual’s personal data cannot be identified from them
developing policies and strategies
to support and seek to protect victims of anti-social behaviour, harassment, prejudice and criminal behaviour
to account for our decisions and investigate complaints
improving our services.

We don’t sell your personal information to anyone else.

The personal information we collect and use

We only obtain and use the information that is needed to protect our employee’s or to investigate complaints. We do not obtain and use special category information.

The law we use to process your personal information:

Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, to protect our wardens/officers during lone working
Environmental Protection Act 1990; waste, pollution, litter, contaminated land, etc
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998
Anti Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

The GDPR/DPA conditions we meet

According to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, we must have a reason to collect and use your information.

This will be:

to deliver services and support you
to enable us to manage the services we provide
to train and manage our workers who deliver those services
to investigate any worries or complaints you may have about our services.

There are a number of legal reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information. For this service:

public task "processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller (BCP council)"

Code of Practice/Procedures

When we use Body Worn Video Cameras (BWVC) we have to follow government guidelines.

Our BWVC procedures are based on the 12 Guiding Principles listed in the Home Office Surveillance Camera Code of Practice 2013.

Accessing the information we hold about you

You have the right to request, in writing, details of the information that is held about you and also the right to access a copy of the information. This may be by the council providing copies of documents or by inviting you to view the records at one of its offices, if appropriate. Please see our webpage for further information about how to make a subject access request.

We will not charge a fee to access your information. Sometimes there may be information that we are not allowed to show you, such as:

legal information or advice
crime prevention and detection records
information that we believe may be harmful to you and your well-being
details about or provided by other people – this is called third party information (e.g. information from the Police).

The data protection legislation provides you with 8 rights regarding your personal data, these are the right to be informed, the right of access, the right to rectification, the right to erase, the right to restrict processing, the right to data portability, the right to object and rights to automated decision making and profiling.

Under Data Protection law we must verify your identity and explain to you our reason if we do not agree to carry out your request.

Who we may share your information with

GDPR Article 6(1)(e): Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

We will only share information legally able to through the above lawful basis and/or applicable exemptions in the Data Protection Act 2018.

Examples of organisations/bodies that we share information with:

Other BCP Council teams who support our service may also have access to your personal information to carry out their statutory roles (e.g. Legal Services, Complaints, Trading Standards, Environmental Protection)
Anti-social Behaviour Team
Community Enforcement Team
Police.

How long we keep information about you

All non-evidential information will be maintained for a maximum of 31 days before it is automatically deleted.Information required as evidence will be kept for a maximum of 6 months or until the evidence is no longer required, whichever is longer.

Further information

If you have a concern about how we are using your information, we would ask you to contact us in the first instance using the address below:

BCP Council
Countryside team
Hatchpond Depot
Hatchpond Road
Nuffield Industrial Estate
Poole
Dorset
BH17 7LQ

Or email heathwardens@bcpcouncil.gov.uk

Data Protection Officer

If you are not satisfied with a response to your concerns from the service, our Data Protection Officer, can review any issues regarding Information Rights legislation if necessary. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at the address below:

Information Governance

information.governance@bcpcouncil.gov.uk

Information Commissioner

For further information about Information Rights legislation, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk or telephone 0303 123 1113.