Local MP Tom Harris has presented the Closed Circuit Television (Monitoring and Promotion) Bill to Parliament.  Inherited from the Glasgow North MP Ann McKechin, the Bill seeks to help provide an overall improvement in the base quality of CCTV systems in the UK.  This would give vital support to local police forces, such as Strathclyde Police, in bringing forward prosecutions.

Tom said, "CCTV footage plays a major part in many police investigations, especially in those by which the crime would be difficult to prove by any other means.  Evidence suggests it leads to far more guilty verdicts and cuts the cost of expensive trials.

"Yet, the current lack of any monitoring system for privately owned CCTV cameras can and does cause problems in terms of the quality and accessibility of footage.  The main problems the police experience in these instances include the routine destruction of film and inaccessible footage because of inadeqaute or poorly maintained systems.  The Bill I've introduced would address these issues, making it a requirement for the owners of private cameras to give local police forces information about the systems they use.  This should mean footage is easier for the police to obtain and will hopefully raise the basic quality levels of film used as evidence."

At the end of the last parliamentary session the Bill fell.  Stand alone Bills introduced by an individual MP rarely get enacted, but they can and do make the relevant Government department, in this case the Home Office, aware of the issue.  Tom has been successful in the past, getting a Ten Minute Rule Bill incorporated into legislation.  The hope now is that the regulation of CCTV, thanks to this introduction, will be pushed onto the Home Office agenda.