Councils use CCTV cameras to issue hundreds of parking tickets a week

Friday, 3 January 2020

CCTV cameras are being used to solve crimes - and dish out parking fines. (Video first published January 2020)

Councils are using CCTV cameras to dish out parking fines, despite the practice courting controversy elsewhere.

Queenstown is leading the push, with its cameras responsible for nearly 350 parking tickets a week – worth as much as $800,000 from February to November last year.

It was banned in Britain five years ago after an outcry that overzealous authorities were issuing tickets for extremely short periods of time and using the system as a 'cash cow'.

New UK legislation limits the use of CCTV parking enforcement to critical routes such as schools, bus lanes, bus stops and public transport zones.

**READ MORE:

A security camera in Camp St, Queenstown, where the technology is used to issue nearly 350 parking tickets a week.

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In Queenstown, the council uses 27 of 48 CCTV cameras specifically to monitor parking in central Queenstown, and is planning to expand the system to Wanaka.

Since the operation began in February, the network has been responsible for 25 per cent of all parking tickets issued.

Council spokesman Jack Barlow said officers watched video footage 24 hours after it was taken and issued a ticket if they deemed behaviour to be non-compliant.

It was part of a council crackdown on parking pressure in the town, with money raised going into the council's overall budget.

Tauranga City Council owns 424 cameras, of which 55 are specifically focused on parking.

Parking officers viewed offences on CCTV when a complaint was laid and operators from the Tauranga Transport Operations Centre could pass on information to the council of particularly blatant or dangerous infringements.

Some New Zealand councils have no problem using CCTV to fine people for minor parking infringements.

Since July 1, the council has issued 285 parking infringements based on CCTV evidence – an average of 15 per week. CCTV fines make up 4.5 per cent of total parking fines issued.

Auckland Council owns and manages 1801 cameras and Auckland Transport operates 2764 cameras across the city's bus, ferry, rail, roading, cycling and parking facilities.

A major expansion to the network is planned, but they are not intended for issuing parking tickets.

The Christchurch City Council owns 150 cameras that only police can access.

While it did not issue tickets for parking offences using security cameras, it did use CCTV cameras to issue 2084 infringements totalling $312,600 to those seen driving in bus lanes in the year to October 31.

Signs alert people to presence of security cameras that are used for issuing parking fines in central Queenstown.

The Dunedin and Wellington city councils do not issue parking tickets based on security camera footage.

New Zealand Council of Civil Liberties spokesman Thomas Beagle said the increasing use of CCTV in towns and cities was part of an ongoing trend as the technology became cheaper and easier to use.

'We're still nervous about the idea of people being tracked everywhere they go and what they do and that information being kept.'

He was not concerned about parking tickets, but questioned whether the information was also used for general surveillance.

CCTV footage shows what the man accused of murdering British backpacker Grace Millane did in the hours after she died.

'People going about their lives shouldn't have to feel they are being tracked and watched. It's quite disconcerting and kind of creepy.'

In Queenstown, there has been significant community backlash on social media about the parking charges.

One person said they had been ticketed at loading zones at 5am, while another said they were fined for stopping at a bus stop at midnight for less than a minute. Another person said they were ticketed for stopping at a bus stop to pick someone up, despite staying in the car themselves.

One woman said she received a fine after dropping her husband and two children at the movies.

'I was driving the car with an infant in the back – [I stopped for] under 10 seconds.'

Barlow said people were allowed to stop in a loading zone to drop someone off, but there was zero tolerance for vehicles stopping or parking in a bus stop.

'It is imperative these spaces are kept clear at all times to allow the public bus service to remain on time.'

Council policy and performance programme manager Polly Lambert said Queenstown's CCTV system was largely modelled on Tauranga's.

It included a crime prevention network, the infringements network and ad-hoc cameras for staff and community safety around places like the Queenstown Events Centre, the Wanaka Recreation Centre, dog pounds and public toilets.

Lambert said she was 'stoked' the council had included $1 million in its 10-year plan for upgrades and extensions to the system.

Police said they did not contribute financially to local body CCTV systems, but acknowledged the systems were valuable for their work.

CCTV footage was 'crucial' in locating the movements of British backpacker Grace Millane after she was reported missing in Auckland in December 2018.

It was also used to track the movements of her killer, who was convicted in November of Millane's murder.

Queenstown man Sahil Sudhir Shetty, 26, was jailed for 16 months for causing bodily injury by carelessly driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. His actions were caught on camera.

In Queenstown, Detective Senior Sergeant Malcolm Inglis said CCTV footage had proven invaluable in helping solve serious assaults in the resort town.

'It can be quite time consuming, but it's very conclusive and very hard to argue with.'

It played a key role in the arrest of Sahil Shetty, who was sentenced to 16 months in jail for seriously injuring his girlfriend in a crash. She was found with critical injuries in his abandoned vehicle several hours after the crash happened.

Two men were arrested after CCTV footage was shared on Facebook following a serious assault in central Queenstown in March.

CCTV footage also provided 'crucial' evidence in bar assaults, while cameras at retail outlets, petrol stations, in taxis, and at intersections (monitored by the NZ Transport Agency) all helped police fight crime, Inglis said.

Many of the Queenstown cameras linked to screens at the Queenstown police station, but staff were not employed to monitor them fulltime.

Police usually used them to see what happened after an incident was reported, he said.

'It's better to be out on the street being proactive and mixing rather than sitting watching screens.'