It’s what you know: Caerphilly County Borough Council train to succeed
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s CCTV control room operators undergo varied training. This case study explains why training is vital for a well run control room.
The CCTV control room at Caerphilly County Borough Council
Training and career development are vital for any organisation to make sure that people have the essential skills they need to carry out their daily tasks effectively, competently and efficiently – principle 5 of the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice touches on training. Caerphilly County Borough Council’s CCTV control room operators undergo varied training including courses on customer service, data protection and sharing of personal information.
“It’s important for operators to have the proper skills and training to allow them to use the public open space system to a high standard of professional competence. For example, new members of staff take the full Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence course within 6 months of joining the team. It’s also crucial for both their own development, for the local authority and our partners. It shows the local authority is running a professional control room to the highest possible standards – this helps to reassure the public that CCTV is there to protect them rather than spy on them”.
Said Carl Nesling, Assistant Community Safety Officer.
How refreshing
It’s essential that training needs are regularly monitored and that staff get refresher training when it’s needed. Carl added:
“A CCTV refresher training course is carried out every 2 to 3 years for all staff. We bring it in from specialist training providers who build a bespoke course to our requirements that concentrates on legislative control. We’re always looking at how to improve our staff training and at our next review we will build in the National Occupational Standards”.
Through regular monitoring of training needs organisations can easily see where there may be gaps in knowledge or skills.
“We are able to identify skills gaps and training needs by general monitoring of operators work and using the monthly statistics which form part of their Performance Development Review (PDR). These allow us to see areas for improvement where additional training would help. This can be discussed at PDRs or on a 1-2-1 basis and helps identify where operators may feel they need more training”.
Confident and reassured
Ensuring that staff receive the right training at the right time and that training needs are regularly monitored means that operators can feel confident in doing their job. It means they have the reassurance that their work will stand up to scrutiny should there ever be a query.