![]() He added: “More efforts should be made to fill the potholes and improve junction designs rather than introduce camera cash registers to catch cars.” Required by GovernmentĪ council spokesman said more than 365 million vehicle journeys were made every year in the borough. The council “has previous in fleecing drivers”, he said, in a reference to the way a yellow box junction in Fulham made about £1.9 million a year as drivers near a LTN became trapped in the “ Moneybox”. Jake Hurfurt, head of research and investigations at Big Brother Watch, said the proliferation of artificial intelligence-powered cameras was “intrusive”.ĭescribing the council’s move as being similar to Big Brother in George Orwell’s 1984 novel, Mr Hurfurt added: “Councils need to be careful not to normalise hi-tech surveillance as a cost-cutting measure, and that AI does not end up as the de facto decision-maker when handing out fines to drivers.”Įdmund King, the president of the AA, described it as a “worrying development”. “Reviews and processing contraventions can be fully done from home.” AI cameras intrusive It added: “Potential contraventions are captured automatically and reviewed by officers at a later date… Officer time spent monitoring the current cameras can be saved or diverted to other tasks… The unattended system enables homeworking, removing the need for shift working and associated costs. The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham currently has 58 pan, zoom and tilt cameras covering 74 “sites”, which require staff to monitor live footage to spot contraventions as they happen.īut the new system will be “cost-effective as they are more efficient”, with the “scope to monitor up to 136 sites”.Įxplaining how the camera software will identify motorists who break the rules, edit the video proof and send it to the Cloud, the report said: “This means the cameras do not have to be watched by staff in real time, nor the recorded footage stored onsite.” Under the heading “being ruthlessly financially efficient”, the report notes how cameras “can capture more potential contraventions than officers and can be operated without the need for a dedicated control room”. The system will pay for itself because “the use of unattended cameras will lead to efficiencies to ensure these are self-financing”, raising the prospect that they could generate enough fines to pay for the anticipated cost of up to £15 million a year. The west London local authority will no longer need its control centre, where CCTV is currently monitored by enforcement officers, because the new system allows staff to work from home.Ī “procurement strategy” report reveals how the council is planning a four-year contract for a CCTV network “to leverage the new technological advances in camera technology”. ![]() The “cost-effective” system, which could cost up to £15 million a year, will be “self-financing” through the fixed-penalty charge notices it issues. Nearly double the number of roads in Hammersmith and Fulham could be covered by “intelligent unmanned cameras” to spot more cars that flout road rules, with some introduced as part of new low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). A Labour-run council has been accused of behaving like Big Brother as it unveils plans for a hi-tech CCTV camera network that could raise £15 million a year from motorists.
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