hidden cameras in the work place advice please
 

We have a light fingered person in my work place and my boss has asked my if I can put a hidden camera in the office so they can try and fined out who it is.
Now the question is can we legally do this? Or do we have to tell them its going in?

This is a real can of worms.

I would do some serious homework before installing anything :)

You can do so however security camera signs should be placed so the named staff cant do you under the privacy act etc

install the cameras, find out who the thieving git is, then sack them for some other offence and dont mention the thefts....

hmm not sure on the legality of such a mehtod

weve had this before though, if was money, we noted down serial numbers and wrote name on notes that we then put in the persons wallet it was going from and left it.

my boss then took the rest iof the day to veiw suspect, without raising alarm. and after boss saw him steal, confronted him with evidence and sacked him and person he was stealing from pressed charges - never heard outcome though

is it money or some other commodity thats going walkies?

Unless you have a reasonable expectation of privacy (e.g. the loo) your employer can put up cameras, but they do have to tell you, which sort of negates the purpose.

There have been cases of companies secretly filming their employees, and the courts have ruled in their favour when challenged, but not always so.

I remember my manager did it to catch a girl when I first started there. She just fessed up and they fired her. I reckon most people would do the same and wouldn't even think about the legalities of being filmed whilst stealing.

Geezer

Money that's going from the odd wage packets to money out of collections for staff ie merternalty ect

Eh?

I used to do some work in a food company

They installed cameras in certain parts of the building.
They supplied food products to restaurants etc.
Turned out someone in despatch was hungry, took a couple of bites out of a block of cheese and despatched the remainder to the restaurant :D

Who actually pays people with 'pay packets' these days?

Where do you work - 1975? :D

Reminds me of the ledgendary thread where SiDHEaD used a webcam and caught the office cleaner robbing loose change from the draw in his desk! :D

Sadly no longer exists on SN as it was vaped :(


Thankfully its all on another forum :http://www.wuh-tuh-fuh.net/index.php?showtopic=44

Still epic :lol1:

Unless you are going to put signs up you are going to fall foul of the regulation of investigatory powers act. (ripa) I would have thought, certainly organisations who routinely do covert work need various authorisations so I would you would fall into the same area.

It would be a massive headache.

Its temp staff that only get small wages sorry for spelling in using my tablet at work I between jobs

Do the light brown wage packets still have them little 'ventilation' holes in? :lol1:

That was so you could count the money :)

There have been a few instances of covert fiming on NHS premesis to detect crime. However, hospitals are crown property and it was the police who installed the cameras.

Tricky ground elsewhere IMHO.

Shaun

PS in one NHS camera case the people were heard slagging off one of the bosses and were disciplined, the discipline case was dropped because it did not form part of the criminal investigation

Many years ago I worked in a supermarket and one of the evening cleaners was suspected of stealing from the storeroom. My boss at the time hid in a plastic kiddies playhouse that was at the back of the store overlooking most of the aisles to catch the woman.:lol1: It was a legendary act!:D

I'd have loved to witness said nutty scene ^^^ :lol:

This has happened twice at our place, both times the culprit quit ;)

What, he hid in a plastic kiddies playhouse?

Get some Smartwater!

http://www.gms-uk.co.uk/prosecurenew...20campaign.jpg

First test will be whether the actions of the employer are proportionate to what is being sought to be achieved.

Are they taking pens from the stationary cupboard, or helping themselves to a few quid from the safe?

If the cam can see the public then DPA may apply.
I would advise against using covert cameras where the public have access as a general rule.
RIPA would not apply, unless the police were involved from the start.

If its in a general office area and there is justification for it I would say its more than reasonable.

But, would it not be better to secure the monies better in the first place? Also an overt camera might be better in the long run. It will also prevent any issues with staff who object to covert filming!

Covert cameras have been used where I work in the past, possibly still are. However, I'm not sure if it is different for us as I work in a shop, so cameras are covering us most of the time anyway. All I know as aside from those covering the shopfloor, cash office and holding room, hidden ones have been installed to catch people out, including in the locker room (not the actual toilet).

It's possible that this is all ok as we already know we are being filmed, so hidden ones are fair game??? Hopefully someone can come along and give an absolute answer for how it stands for you. Does anywhere within your workplace have cameras? Is this just a hidden addition in a certain area? Maybe that will make a difference...

I had to do this in a place to catch bad time keeping.

a simple way is put two cameras in. One in a really obvious place like the front door and put a big sign up saying "cctv in use on these premises" and say its for security , it can even be a dummy camera. Then put a hidden camera in the place that the crime is happening.

The person will likley continue theiving , and you will be covered as you have the sign up.

If the camera installation is that troublesome, then surely they can only put on some kind of physical surveillance like that manager did above.

Should not be allowed to continue anyway.

Les

They had the same problem at my place. One dept was having odds and ends go missing so Security installed hidden cameras overnight...
Ended up filming a couple shagging on a meeting room table late one evening ha ha ha ha.

Nick

Why not just stick up an obvious camera and tell the staff why it is being done. I think it will probably solve the problem going forward which is a similar result, if the person forgets you may catch them anyway.

My work place in a private children's nursery and money is going missing from the small managers office when they know the manager is out
From just a few quid to a full weeks wage most of the money is locked in a safe apart from collections for staffs birthdays ect
The management like to think they employ trusted staff but there is allways one bad penny
There is cameras in the school which we are attached to but they are only on the out side of the building