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He worries that losing network access could affect police investigations, community safety programs and even insurance claims.
“Safety is the top priority. People’s lives are at risk.”
Patterson raised his experience with the crash at Wednesday’s community and regional development committee meeting and asked if the council would “try to prevent” the revocation of access rights.
Community and regional development group manager Jean-Paul Gaston said there had been “a number of discussions” across the country about maintaining access to the agency’s cameras.
The event was led by police but the council was interested in the outcome.
Tapsell said she had written to the transport minister, the police minister and the agency’s chairman to voice parliament’s concerns.
“(Revoking access) will have serious consequences.”
She said she has “not yet received a satisfactory response” but will continue to advocate for the right to retain access.
Fear of “catastrophic consequences”
In a letter to Police Minister Mark Mitchell in April, Tapsell said the city was monitored 24/7 by the council’s CCTV network, which included 19 NZ Transport Agency cameras.
“We have recently been advised that following a privacy impact assessment, the NZ Transport Agency will be returning these cameras to full operation, which means our community safety teams will no longer be able to access them or freely access footage from the cameras to assist police,” she said.
“In many cases our team are able to provide CCTV footage to local police to assist with investigations and prosecutions, ensuring those who choose to commit crime are held accountable.”
Tapsell said it would cost about $675,000 to replace local cameras and fill the “huge gaps” in the council’s network and requested funding for that.
In a letter to NZTA board chair Simon Bridges in May, Tapsell asked for a waiver to allow the council to continue using the 19 cameras, or for NZTA to help fund replacements.
Tapsell told Local Democracy Report CCTV is a vital tool in the fight against crime and she wrote the letter to warn people that revoking surveillance rights would have “catastrophic consequences”.
“Replacing and duplicating these measures would impose significant and unnecessary costs on taxpayers.”
She said the council “only uses them to track vehicles that have been involved in crime or registered as stolen”.
“We strongly urge ministers to ensure our local access to these cameras is maintained.”
A NZTA spokesman said police and some councils had access to the agency’s CCTV camera network, while councils had access through their regional transport operations centres.
“The New Zealand Transport Agency is reviewing how we share personal information from CCTV cameras with other agencies in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020.
“We understand the importance of access to these cameras to the City Council and Police for law enforcement. We are listening carefully to feedback from the City Council and Police and have not yet made a final decision on potential changes to third party access to our cameras.”
The number of cameras in its network changes constantly as they are installed, retired or transferred from police to the NZTA. As of May 31, there were 1148 cameras in its network.
The agency’s website says its cameras are used to manage land transport services, improve services, enhance the network and provide a safer land transport system.
Examples include identifying and managing incidents related to road emergencies and motor vehicle accidents, dangerous behaviour, destructive behaviour (such as vandalism), the functionality of assets and the proper use of bus lanes.
The minister and police were contacted for comment.
Laura Smith is a local democracy reporter for the Rotorua Daily Mail. She previously covered general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express and has been a journalist for four years.
– LDR is a local news organisation jointly funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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