Some locals have raised in concern at the latest salvo from Lancaster City Council against littering – which included the photograph of an alleged ‘butt dropper’ in a press release.
The Council issued an appeal for the name of the alleged litterer, spotted dropping a cigarette butt on Market Street in Lancaster ran away before he could be issued with a fine by one of the Council’s enforcement officers.
While almost everyone supports the Council’s anti-littering agenda, virtual-lancaster was surprised to read a press release in which, in effect, a Green Party councillor was giving tacit support to Lancaster City Council’s surveillance tactics. Several VL readers have expressed concerns the publication is a step too far in the campaign, with one even suggesting it might be contrary to Home Office guidelines on covert surveillance.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pro-littering,” said one, “but while I can see the value of the police issuing CCTV footage in the case of an offence, publishing someone’s photo for alleged littering is surely all a bit 1984?”
Another virtual-Lancaster reader argues the photograph is also overstepping the mark. “It’s perhaps because they’re trying to drive the lesson home, they told us, “but they’ve got thousands of unpaid parking fine photos (they take one when they issue the ticket) which is, frankly, a bit more serious and very much more costly; and unpaid business rates, and they wouldn’t dream of publishing photos of those offenders.”
Coun Jon Barry, quoted in the release and arguing people should take responsibility for the cleanliness of the district, is a member of the Green Party, which has policy on stricter controls for video surveillance, but argues this was a photograph, not CCTV.
“It wasn’t [footage from] a surveillance CCTV camera – I’d like to get rid of them as I don’t believe they work or are effective,” he told virtual-lancaster. “This is when somebody dropped litter and then ran away and then they took his photo. I don’t have a problem with that.
“Checking litter droppers 24 hours a day re CCTV I agree is rather 1984 (though I would agree to place it in an area that is regularly fly-tipped on).
“My ideal scenario would be for nobody to drop litter and for nobody to be fined,” he says in the Council’s press release, “but if we have to fine people for dropping litter then it’s a step we’re prepared to take to keep our district clean and litter free.”