The PCMA was established in June 1997 as the TAG CCTV User Group. It initially consisted of Local Authority CCTV Managers from around the East Midlands area, the main driving force was Simon Walters from Lincoln and the group has now grown to include members from all areas of the country.
A formal Constitution was established in December 1998, followed by the election of officers. Roy Slater from Mansfield was elected Chair, Simon Walters as Secretary and Frank Cannon, from Huntingdon as Treasurer.
In May 2002 the name of the group was changed to the Public CCTV Managers Association (PCMA) to better reflect the activities of the Association.
The Association was originally formed as a sub group of the Technical Advisors Group, which is a national organisation of technical officers from within the public sector. The PCMA exists purely for Public Authorities. It is non-profit making and provides a network for the exchange of information and best practice for Local and Public Authority CCTV Managers across the country.
Since the early 1990’s, the increase in the use of CCTV has brought many changes. Local and Public Authority CCTV Managers did not exist in significant numbers at that time. The only expertise of any kind then was in the hands of the traditional security industry and little was known by those in the employment of Local Authorities. The balance of knowledge has now changed significantly and much of the knowledge and expertise on the management and operation of Public Area CCTV now lies with a new breed of dedicated and professional individuals working in that area.
Another significant change has been the introduction of much needed legislation covering the operation of CCTV. The PCMA offers mutual support and advice free from commercial influence and also sets up working groups to deal with these and other issues. Much of the information produced is available on this website free of charge. The group has an internet discussion group facility where members can post problems or ask for information and receive replies direct from other members.
These Working Groups have been set up to look at issues such as Data Sharing, Performance Indicators, Service Level Agreements and Training. Some valuable reference documents have been produced and these are available on this web site. Training has been and continues to be a key issue and in order to achieve a proper National Standard for staff working in public area surveillance Control Centres, input from all relevant parts of the CCTV community is vital. PCMA worked with the CCTV User Group and the SIA to develop the training standards for licensing of CCTV Operators and continue to actively work with Skills for Security
We encourage as many interested parties as possible to participate towards acheiving the goal of certification with the SCC and promoting best practice throughout the industry. Reports have also been produced on a number of on various matters such as revenue funding of systems and advertising in telephone kiosks.
We also have links with the NPCC, LGA, Home Office, Skills for Security, SIA, BSIA, London Councils.
Many of our members are also responsible for the operation of traffic monitoring schemes. This is an area where increased liaison between Public Safety CCTV and Traffic CCTV Managers is becoming more appropriate as the use of CCTV is extended to traffic enforcement.
We offer mutual support and advice, and promote best practice throughout the public sector with regards to CCTV. We meet two times per year, at various locations, to discuss issues of concern to those operating public area surveillance schemes. Not only does this facilitate networking but also, through these forums, issues of particular concern are addressed. Where necessary, specialist working groups are created to research particular issues and to develop appropriate advice and guidance.
Who administers the Group? We operated solely for Public Authority scheme managers and so as you would expect, the group is operated by Public Authority scheme managers. If you are not a member but have been running a system then you will also have knowledge and experiences which we would like to know about.
