Operator in CCTV dispute with police

But licence holder Michael Kheng maintains he was simply obeying data protection laws after police requested CCTV footage from his bar without explaining who they were looking for.

On 16 October 2011, police called at Kai’s Bar in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire, re-questing CCTV footage because they had intelli-gence that offenders involved in a burglary at a residence unconnected to the premises had been in the bar.

The burglary took place in Alford, Lincolnshire, six-and-a-half miles away.

However, when Kheng asked for a description of the people the police were looking for, he claims that they could not give him details.

Therefore, under his obligations to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which enforces and oversees the Data Protection Act 1998, Kheng refused to hand over the footage.

In his application against the licence review, Kheng said the ICO fact sheet says there are limits on what you can release and you need to be “satisfied that police have narrowed the description of the suspect as much as they reasonably can”.

It adds that if the licensee has concerns about releasing the personal information, they can ask police to return with a court order.

Police emailed Kheng three times between 25 October and 30 October asking for the CCTV footage,
but still Kheng was not satisfied with the details.

So the police came back with a court warrant on 4 November 2011 to obtain the CCTV recording.

Kheng also hit out at the fact that the review was submitted without any discussions with him and that ahearing will incur costs for both parties.

He wrote: “We feel the application is an abuse of the powers of Lincolnshire Police and the matters contained within the application are written in a manner to discredit and undermine our company.

“If the accusations made are so serious — described as ‘the licence holder has deliberately stalled the investigation’, ‘obstructed the officer in the performance of his duty’, and ‘at best, has been negligent’, then we feel that our company should be challenged in court, not by councillors.”

Kheng has also submitted a formal complaint over the issue to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The police declined to comment.