Licensing & regulation
What is public space surveillance?
Public space surveillance is operating CCTV to monitor public space in a way that identifies or records individuals. It is a licensable activity distinct from guarding.
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<img src="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/public-space-surveillance/diagram.svg" alt="public space surveillance — diagram from SecureOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/public-space-surveillance">What is public space surveillance?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk">SecureOptix</a>
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</figure>The trigger is proactive, targeted monitoring of people rather than the presence of cameras. Cameras nobody watches, or footage reviewed after an incident, sit differently from someone actively following individuals on a screen.
It gets added to guarding roles informally — an officer asked to watch the monitors during quiet periods — which moves them into licensable activity nobody decided to authorise.
Data protection obligations run alongside and are not satisfied by the licence. What is recorded, how long it is kept and who may see it are governed separately.
What goes wrong in practice
- Monitoring duties added to a guarding role with no licence check.
- Licence held while the data protection obligations are entirely unaddressed.
- Assuming a private site takes the activity outside the licence when the space monitored is public.