Watch one of our learners complete the one-to-one CCTV practical, then walk through Scenario 3 as the operator: functional checks, the radio call, the search on cameras 1 and 2, the evidential image, tracking, the lost contact drill and the audit trail.
Section 2
Section 2 of the CCTV assessment is a filmed, one-to-one practical on the control-room equipment, about 25 minutes, of you acting like you are in this scenario.
CCTV practical assessment, one of our learners at A Security Academy · on YouTube
Read aloudOptional. Uses your browser's voice; nothing plays until you press the button.
Scenario 3, card by card
The practical is a story you act out on the equipment. Swipe each card left when you have read it, and swipe right to bring one back. Press Read aloud and the cards turn as the voice goes.
The circus at the Town Hall
Picture it. It is a bank holiday Sunday and the circus is in town. To advertise the big top on the edge of town, the circus people have set up a mini circus in the Town Hall square. The light is going, the square is packed with excited children, and their parents are doing their best to keep them in sight. You are the CCTV operator on shift, and for the next twenty-five minutes everything that happens in that square is yours to watch.
Every step is on the assessor's observation sheet, so say what you are doing as you do it.
Start your shift with the checks
Before anything else, run your functional checks: the cameras, the controller with its keyboard and joystick, the monitors, the recording equipment, the computer and the workstation. Check the time and date stamp against a reliable clock. Camera 8 is working intermittently. Write it in the fault log now and report it straight away.
"Functional checks complete. Camera 8 intermittent, logged and reported."
A fault found, logged and reported is exactly what the assessor is watching for. Miss it and you miss a criterion.
The call from PC Jones
A little way into your shift the radio goes. It is PC Jones, collar number 1234, asking for your help. A male is suspected of working the crowd as a pickpocket, and the officer gives you a detailed description. Answer with your call sign, acknowledge the officer's, and write the key details in your rough notes: who called, the time by your checked clock, the suspected offence and the full description.
"PC Jones, this is Control, receiving. Go ahead."
Search on cameras 1 and 2
You cannot rely on camera 8, so you start the search on cameras 1 and 2, the two that give you the best view of the Town Hall square. Work the square in a pattern rather than jumping about, and say what you are doing out loud. A methodical search is a marked criterion.
"Searching the square on camera 1, left to right. Switching to camera 2."
You have a match: screenshot his face
There he is. A male moving in and out of the crowds, showing no interest in the circus at all, apparently alone. Zoom in and take a screenshot of his face: this is your identification image, at 100 per cent. Note the camera number and the time, and tell PC Jones where he is. Add more detail on his clothing so the officers on the ground can pick him out.
"Possible match on camera 2. Screenshot of his face taken, identification image at 100 per cent."
Keep that screenshot safe. You will need it again at the end, for the flash drive. Identification is 100 per cent of the screen height: anything smaller is not an identification image.
Pass the description properly
Gender, approximate age, build, height, hair, then clothing from the head down, anything distinctive, where he is and which way he is moving. Describe what you can see, not what you assume, and keep the same order every time so the officer can picture him as you speak.
"Male, thirties, medium build, about five ten, short dark hair, black jacket, blue jeans, moving towards the fountain."
Track him until the police can get there
PC Jones asks you to stay with him and see whether he commits any further thefts before the officers arrive. Follow him from camera to camera with pan, tilt and zoom, think ahead to where he will move next in the crowd, and keep telling PC Jones where he is.
"Subject now on camera 1, heading for the stalls on the north side."
The theft
While you are watching, he does it: he takes an item from a lady's handbag. Tell PC Jones immediately, with the time, the camera and where the victim is, and keep recording. This is the piece of footage the whole case will turn on, so note the time precisely.
"Theft witnessed, 18:42, camera 1. Item taken from a female's handbag by the fountain. Recording."
Lost contact drill
As the police arrive the suspect ducks into an alley and you lose him. Say the words on the radio, then do it: go back to his last known position, bring up the cameras around it and run methodical zoom-in and zoom-out 360-degree checks until you find him again. You relocate him on camera 1 or camera 2, whichever picks him up first, at the far side of the Town Hall.
"Lost contact drill. Last seen alley off the square, checking surrounding cameras."
The words "lost contact drill" must be said, and more than one camera must be used.
Guide the police in and stay with him
Give PC Jones the new location, keep him in frame, and watch the officers arrive and detain him. Log the time and the camera the detention was seen on.
"Subject relocated, camera 2, far side of the Town Hall. Officers approaching now."
Prepare the screenshot and the footage
The police ask for the recorded images to be ready for viewing. Find the footage, check the time stamps and label it correctly. Then go back to the screenshot of his face. Rename it so anyone can tell what it is, for example the date, the time and the camera number, and move it onto an external flash drive. Having viewed the footage, the police ask for a copy to take away as evidence.
"The screenshot is renamed and on the flash drive, ready for you."
In this order: find it, rename it, move it to the flash drive.
Fill in your statement
The police also ask for a statement detailing your actions. Fill in the statement paper: when you started, when you stopped, and the time of each key event. Keep it with the flash drive, because the two of them travel together from here on.
"My statement is complete and signed, and it's with the flash drive."
Seal the evidence
Put the flash drive and the filled statement paper into an evidence file and seal it. Label it so anyone can see what it is. From this moment it is sealed evidence, ready for the police.
"Flash drive and statement going into the evidence file. Sealing it now."
Both items go in before you seal it. Once it is sealed, it stays sealed.
Complete the evidence review log
Now the paper trail for what you have just sealed. Fill in the evidence review log so there is a record of the footage that was reviewed, when, and by whom.
"Evidence review log completed."
PC Jones collects: the handover log
PC Jones arrives to collect the evidence. Complete the evidence handover log, then get him to sign it before the sealed file leaves your hands. That signature shows exactly who took the evidence and when.
"PC Jones, here is the sealed evidence. Please sign the handover log for me."
No signature, no handover. The evidence does not leave until PC Jones has signed.
Finally, the incident report
The police have gone, but your shift's paperwork has one last piece. Fill in the incident report to follow your company procedures. That completes the audit trail: your rough notes, the incident report, the copy of the recorded images, the print log, evidence labels, the evidence review log, the evidence handover document, the fault log from step 1 with camera 8 on it, and your statement.
"Incident report completed, as per company procedures."
Collating the evidence can be done as a group; the camera work is individual.
That's Section 2
Watch the video again with these cards beside you, then say the radio lines out loud until they come without thinking.
What the assessor is marking
The observation sheet follows the specification's practical criteria. You must show:
Functional checks on control-room equipment and a completed fault log.
Use of the equipment: controllers, recording devices, monitors, the video management system and pan, tilt and zoom, and how you cope with weather and light that affect the picture.
Surveillance techniques: prioritising if more than one thing is happening, detecting and tracking a subject on foot, securing images, and the lost contact drill using more than one camera.
Communication: passing and receiving information clearly on the radio and by phone, with accurate descriptions of people, locations and events as they unfold.
An evidential image at the right standard: identification 100 per cent, recognition 50 per cent, observation 25 per cent, detection 10 per cent, vehicles 50 per cent.
The documents for the audit trail, listed in step 15. Collating the evidence can be done as a group; the camera work is individual.
All criteria must be evidenced to pass Section 2. Section 1, the short-answer workbook, needs 12 out of 15 marks.
Before the day
Say your radio messages out loud at home: call sign, who you are calling, the message, over.
Learn the description order for a person so it comes out in the same sequence every time.
Know the five image standards by heart. Two of them are also in the workbook.
Practise the lost contact drill in your head, and practise saying the words: last position, surrounding cameras, systematic search, zoom checks, report.
