Cameras have a narrow, specific role in Streetwatch: lawful evidence and accountability. They are never used for entertainment, social-media reach, or to expose individuals. This page sets out exactly what volunteers may capture, what they must never capture, and what happens when those lines are crossed.
Patrol-level shots of streets, crowds and locations where no individual is identifiable. Useful for training, route planning and public reports.
Broken lighting, fly-tipping, damaged infrastructure, unsafe scaffolding — anything the council or transport partners should know about.
Body-worn footage during a live incident where it supports a safeguarding handover or a report to Police Scotland. Retained per policy and offered to the appropriate agency.
Volunteers may record their own conduct (e.g. their own voice and actions during a tense encounter) as accountability evidence. This protects both the public and the volunteer.
Faces, distinctive clothing, tattoos, vehicle plates and house numbers must not be captured for any purpose other than a lawful safeguarding or police referral.
No filming of people who are intoxicated, in mental health crisis, sleeping rough, or being supported in a safeguarding context. Their dignity comes before any clip.
No deliberate or incidental filming of children. If children appear in wide context shots, footage is deleted or fully blurred before any internal use.
No recording inside homes, cars, taxis, businesses, places of worship or any location where a reasonable person expects privacy.
We do not film officers' faces, badge numbers or shoulder numbers for publication. Concerns about officer conduct are raised through the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC), not social media.
No livestreaming from a patrol. Ever.
No posting of any footage to public social media, group chats or messaging apps.
No sending footage to journalists, podcasters or content creators without written Oversight Board approval.
No 'naming and shaming' posts, even with faces blurred, even if the person is alleged to have committed a crime.
No internal sharing beyond the named recipient in the incident log — footage is not patrol gossip.
No retention of personal footage on volunteers' personal devices after a patrol ends.
UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Information Commissioner's Office surveillance code apply to every recording we make.
Our lawful basis under UK GDPR for incident footage is a combination of legitimate interest (community safety) and, where relevant, vital interests (safeguarding life).
We capture the minimum footage necessary, for the minimum time necessary, and delete on a fixed schedule unless retained for a live referral.
Routine patrol footage: 7 days. Incident-tagged footage: 30 days, or until handed to a partner agency. Safeguarding footage: per partner agency's retention requirements.
Only named team leads and the Data Officer can access raw footage. Every access is logged and audited by the Oversight Board.