FOI request: CCTV and body-worn footage at Liverpool Street Station
Request ID: FOI-2000-2223 Date published: 08 December 2022
You asked
Dear team,
Please consider the below as a request for information under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000.
I wish to be provided with the following information on CCTV and body-worn camera footage, captured at Liverpool Street Station:
• In what format(s) is CCTV and body-worn camera footage stored in? (For example, this could be a specific Cloud-based app such as Microsoft OneDrive, bespoke software, or a local shared/network drive with a third party). Please provide all possible storage locations of CCTV and body-worn camera footage in Liverpool Street Station between January 1st 2022 and the present, not just a 'primary' storage location
• Please provide the date (DD/MM/YYYY) of the earliest held CCTV or body-worn camera footage, currently accessible to TFL, at Liverpool Street Station, and clarify which of the two forms of footage it is. I would also be grateful for clarity on why a decision has been made to retain legacy footage in such instances, but this is not essential
We answered
TfL Ref: 2000-2223 Thank you for your request received by us on 11 November 2022 asking for information about CCTV and Body Worn camera footage from Liverpool Street Station. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require, related to Liverpool Street Underground Station. For information related to CCTV in Liverpool Street National Rail Station, please contact Network Rail via: [email protected].
You asked for: the following information on CCTV and body-worn camera footage, captured at Liverpool Street Station: In what format(s) is CCTV and body-worn camera footage stored in? (For example, this could be a specific Cloud-based app such as Microsoft OneDrive, bespoke software, or a local shared/network drive with a third party). Please provide all possible storage locations of CCTV and body-worn camera footage in Liverpool Street Station between January 1st 2022 and the present, not just a 'primary' storage location We can advise that Body Worn CCTV footage controlled by London Underground is processed using a UK based, Amazon Web Service cloud. It is held initially for 14 days from the date that footage is recorded, after which time the system is configured to automatically delete the footage. Footage may be held for a longer period if it is identified as being necessary for a specific purpose. In instances where a criminal investigation is ongoing, Body Worn CCTV footage will be requested to be retained, and this retention period will be for 365 days from the date that such footage is recorded. Footage tagged as a Subject Access Request will be retained for two years from the date that the Subject Access Request has been fulfilled. Selected CCTV footage may be retained for six months in the case of other acceptable uses, such as safeguarding vulnerable people or Bylaw offence prosecutions. Whilst Transport for London does not retain copies of any Body Worn CCTV footage on our systems, they are held briefly on our secure drives prior to being electronically transferred to the Police, or burnt onto disk format in accordance with our procedures. Please provide the date (DD/MM/YYYY) of the earliest held CCTV or body-worn camera footage, currently accessible to TFL, at Liverpool Street Station, and clarify which of the two forms of footage it is. I would also be grateful for clarity on why a decision has been made to retain legacy footage in such instances, but this is not essential Footage from CCTV cameras in London Underground stations is retained on TfL systems for up to seven years, depending on incident type, but is generally deleted after 14 days unless an incident has been logged. As previously mentioned, Body Worn CCTV footage is held initially for 14 days from the date that footage is recorded, after which time the system is configured to automatically delete this footage, unless a need has been identified to hold it for a longer period for a specific purpose. However, in accordance with the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply the date of the earliest held CCTV or Body Worn camera footage held by TfL from Liverpool Street Station, as this information is subject to statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 31(1)(a) of the FOI Act (to avoid prejudice to the prevention or detection of crime). This exemption applies as we would not want to confirm why particular footage from any given date was held, since disclosure might prejudice the prevention and detection of crime. If we were to disclose such detail into the public domain, a suspect, for example, would then be aware that within a specific period of time, there would be no CCTV footage held by the Police from this location, which could then be detrimental to a Police investigation. The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. While there is a public interest in openness and in being able to assess TfL’s performance of its public functions, in this instance there is a greater public interest in ensuring we are able to support the Police in their work to prevent and detect crime. If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed. Yours sincerely Jasmine Howard FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
