CCTV in Nowra's central business district could be reactivated as early as next week after Premier Barry O'Farrell announced yesterday exemptions would be introduced to ensure local councils could continue to use the cameras.
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The Nowra cameras, owned by Shoalhaven City Council and monitored by NSW Police, were switched off last week after the Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruled privacy laws had been breached under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.
Mr O'Farrell said he sought urgent advice from the Attorney-General on steps necessary to validate continued use of CCTV.
"The NSW government is now drafting a regulation to provide appropriate exemptions under privacy laws to allow local councils to continue using CCTV," he said.
"It is expected the regulation will be in place by the end of next week and will mean the CCTV in the Shoalhaven can then be switched back on.
"The NSW government had no intention of allowing this tribunal decision to undermine police efforts to reduce crime on our streets.
"CCTV is a vital tool in the fight against crime and we are determined to ensure it remains so."
Kiama MP Gareth Ward said he was extremely pleased with the announcement.
"Like many local residents and small business owners in the Nowra CBD, I was outraged by the findings of the ADT in relation to privacy based on the gripe of one individual," he said.
"I have maintained from day one in my support for these CCTV cameras - if you've done nothing wrong then you've got nothing to hide."
South Coast MP Shelley Hancock said police, business owners and residents in Nowra whole-heartedly supported the use of CCTV to assist police.
"Recently, the use of the local CCTV network assisted police to identify a perpetrator and led to their subsequent apprehension in a bag snatch on the corner of Berry Street and Junction Street, Nowra," Mrs Hancock said.
Late yesterday, the man who took the matter to the ADT, Adam Bonner, described Mr O'Farrell's move as "extremely unfortunate".
He said the Premier was jumping on the "populist bandwagon of law and order", and was ignoring the facts of the case.
"What this will mean is that people won't have a right to protect their privacy, which they do now," Mr Bonner said.
"It also shows contempt for the ADT. Why have the ADT to hear all the evidence and make a decision in the first place?
"This also rewards incompetency.
"The ADT found the cameras were recording images that were inaccurate and incomplete and the council would have discovered this if they had conducted due diligence and checked the functions of the camera.
"A system was implemented that never fitted its purpose.
"The footage is too blurred, people were unrecognisable and that is why the police applications to use the footage declined at the same time as the key areas of crime went up."
Inspector Steve Johnson of the Shoalhaven Local Area Command said CCTV was a vital tool in crime prevention as it frequently assisted police in prosecuting criminals who had been captured in the CCTV footage.
"It allows police to move resources quickly to problematic locations to prevent trouble breaking out or to provide a quick response," Insp Johnson said.