Court rules Teulada CCTVs illegal

Closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in Teulada streets are illegal.

The town hall is not authorised to install them, ruled Spain’s Data Protection Agency. Only the central administration’s security forces can do this, it said.

Objections to the CCTVs came not from the public, but Teulada’s Local Police, who complained that one of the town’s eight cameras was located at their own headquarters.  Footage could only be seen by the Local Police chief.

Aware that the town hall did not have the necessary authorisation the unions lodged a formal complaint against the town hall.  Ironically, it later emerged that the camera at police headquarters had never functioned.

Spain’s Data Protection Agency ruled that the Teulada cameras were illegal, that the town hall did not have a permit to use them but had cited traffic and road safety regulations to justify their presence. Neither had those affected by the cameras given permission for their details to be used.