Sussex Police under fire for recruiting public to trawl CCTV in sex offence investigations
Watch: Former Scotland Yard detective says recruiting the public to look through CCTV is 'dangerous'
Sussex Police has come under fire after issuing an advertisement to recruit unpaid members of the public to trawl through CCTV footage in sex offence investigations and other serious crimes.
Former Scotland Yard detective and undercover officer, Peter Bleksley has attacked the use of volunteers as 'dangerous', saying its crucial work should only be carried out by skilled, salaried staff.
But Sussex Police has denied the claim it's dangerous, saying they have 'a number of safeguards in place.'
The advert is recruiting volunteers to review CCTV involving offences such as assaults, theft, burglaries, criminal damage to property and missing person enquiries, as well as serious sexual offences, child abuse and high-risk domestic violence.
It reads: "The volunteers will play a key role in assisting the investigations team with acquisitive crime and missing persons enquiries.
"The role is based at John Street Police Station in Brighton and the duration of the task will depend on the caseload from the investigation teams.
"It is estimated that the volunteer will be required 3-4 times a month for approximately 4 hours a session."
Key Responsibilities include supporting CCTV review requests from police officers and staff to review captured footage, and some basic administration tasks required.
Mr Bleksley told ITV Meridian though volunteers isn't a new concept for Sussex Police, asking volunteers to review CCTV from very serious crimes is 'a step too far.'
"Viewing CCTV is often a lot more than looking for a man in a baseball cap and trainers on.
"There can be so much more crucial evidence found by people who know what they're looking for.
Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley
"Could a volunteer spot a person who was part of a gang who was acting as a lookout?
"Would they be able to tell that that person was performing that role? Or would they just think they were another bystander?
"This is very important work which may be tested in the crown courts, and these volunteers could potentially be called upon to give evidence. Will they be trained to give evidence?
"Would they be willing to go to court and be cross-examined by a very clever defence barrister?
"I firmly believe that the reviewing of CCTV footage with a view to obtaining potentially crucial evidence is a job which should be done by paid professionals."
Sussex Police, which has a budget gap of £17 million, says investigations will not be compromised by the work of the volunteers and that the scheme is not a cost-cutting measure.
Sussex Police Assistant Chief Constable Howard Hodge
Assistant Chief Constable Howard Hodge from Sussex Police says the force already has a large number of volunteers working for them: "This is just to add some value and enhance those investigations, and ideally be able to progress them quicker and solve more crimes.
"It also gives people the opportunity to contribute back to their local area."
The scheme was started during the Covid pandemic, allowing a large number of people to give back to their community.
Assistant Ch Con Hodge added that the enquiries that are selected for volunteers would be carefully monitored and supervised.
"The volunteers will be vetted and trained and are not here to take on criminal investigations.
"They are simply tasked with reviewing CCTV.
"The wealth of CCTV that's out there is brilliant but it can be time consuming.
"Actually for non-critical lines of enquiry where actually we just have perhaps a number of hours of footage that needs to be viewed to see if somebody was present, or not, that's a really good use I think of volunteers' time to free up the investigator to focus on the more critical elements of the investigation."
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