Investigation into CCTV at Birchington House

There has been an update to this investigation.

The Residents’ Association has conducted an investigation into CCTV at Birchington House. The investigation found:

1. The cameras at Birchington House were not working on 20 August 2020.
2. They were checked, and seemingly repaired, by Hackney Council on 26 August 2020.
3. It appears that the only reason this check and repair was carried out was because the Residents’ Association had made a Freedom of Information Act request to Hackney Council regarding whether the cameras worked.
4. In their response to the FOI request made by Dr Houghton, Hackney Council failed to disclose the fact that the camera at Birchington House had not been working from an unknown date up until 26 August 2020. This was seriously misleading by Hackney Council.
5. Hackney Council has still not explained when the last check on CCTV cameras was done before the FOI request was made on 25 August 2020.
6. False statements were made by Peabody staff about the cameras at Birchington House working.
7. Between them, Peabody and Hackney Council do not know who controls the cameras on the Pembury Estate (other than Pembury Circus, which Peabody admits it controls).
8. Peabody is not complying with its own policy requirement to “have a management agreement or service level agreement in place if a partner organisation manages our CCTV system”. This is also likely to mean that Peabody is not complying with its data protection obligations, and may mean that Hackney Council is not complying with its own obligations.

On 16 September 2020 the results of our investigation were sent to Peabody and Hackney Council. We await their responses.

Read the report in full below: