KIAMA council will seek to ascertain whether there is a simple and legal way to determine population numbers during peak tourist times.
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However, the case of anti-CCTV campaigner Adam Bonner in the Shoalhaven meant some Kiama councillors were wary of utilising existing CCTV facilities for this purpose.
A report to the August council meeting responded to a question from the May meeting.
At the May meeting, Cr Kathy Rice asked for a report on the use of non-identifying information from CCTV to estimate the population serviced by Kiama at peak tourist times.
GS Security, who have supplied and installed both of council’s systems in Kiama and Gerringong provided council with estimations of costs associated with purchasing software and licences and hardware to upgrade council’s current system in Kiama so that it could be used for this purpose.
“If additional cameras need to be purchased (because current cameras are not located and/or angled in a fashion that would support this type of function), then additional costs would be incurred, around $3200 per camera (purchase only), plus installation costs,” council’s report said.
“In regards to council’s CCTV policy, this type of use of the system is not consistent with the objectives of the policy. It is therefore recommended that council does not pursue using the CCTV system for this purpose.”
At the meeting, Cr Rice said her motivation was to enhance council’s capability of estimating the municipality’s holiday population, which could be used towards means such as Financial Assistance Grants.
Cr Dennis Seage said he thought “the most important thing here is to protect the integrity of the CCTV program”.
Mayor Brian Petschler said the case in the Shoalhaven meant he was wary of using CCTV for means other than those already established.
In 2013, Shoalhaven City Council's CCTV cameras were briefly switched off after the Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruled privacy laws had been breached under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.
Anti-CCTV campaigner Adam Bonner claimed it was not the council's role to collect evidence for the purposes of prosecuting crime.
Mr Bonner complained that the council's CCTV cameras in Nowra breached the privacy of residents.
At the meeting, Kiama council staff also raised that information related to population numbers was available through Sydney Water.
Council's director of engineering and works Gino Belsito said that with the Kiama and Gerringong catchments well-defined and trends of patterns of sewerage loads during peak periods available, this could be correlated to equivalent population numbers.
At the meeting, an amendment was successfully moved by Cr Neil Reilly that council review the report to determine if there is a simple and legal way to assess population numbers using existing systems and other means, and the cost.
Post-meeting, Cr Petschler said his concern was “that Shoalhaven got caught in that court case over the definition, or the use of CCTV in terms of privacy… Any attempt I think to change what we’ve got, which is a workable system under the law is fraught with danger at this time”.
