Donegal traffic wardens issued with personal CCTV cameras

Donegal County Council’s traffic wardens have been given new uniforms, which include state of the art personal CCTV cameras.
The council says the cameras are designed to provide for the personal safety of traffic wardens while they are doing their job.
Donegal County Council is one of the first local authorities in Ireland to introduce personal CCTV cameras for Traffic Wardens, according to Director of Services John McLaughlin.
He says these devices will not be operating on a continuous basis, but if a traffic warden finds him or herself in a situation that could result in some form of confrontation they can advise the other person or persons that they are turning on the device to record proceedings.

The wardens have been trained, and the council says there are strict rules in place prohibiting the filming of children or minors.
Mr Mc Laughlin says research has shown that when the personal CCTV cameras are in place they do act as a deterrent, and have been proven to help defuse potential conflict situations
Traffic wardens currently operate in Letterkenny, Buncrana, Ballybofey, Ballyshannon, Donegal Town and Bundoran.
 
Council statement in full –
Donegal County Council is among one of the first local authorities in Ireland to introduce personal CCTV cameras for Traffic Wardens and John McLaughlin, Director of Roads & Transportation explains “whilst this technology is widely used in other European countries including the UK, Donegal County Council is one of the first local authorities to introduce it here in Ireland”.
 
The overall aim of the personal CCTV camera is to provide for the personal safety of traffic wardens while they are doing their job. 
 
As John McLaughlin explains “these devices will not be operating on a continuous basis, however, if a traffic warden finds him or herself in a situation that could result in some form of confrontation they can advise the other person or persons that they are turning on the device to record proceedings.  Traffic wardens have been trained in using these devices and there are strict rules in place prohibiting the filming of children or minors.
 
“Most traffic wardens are working on their own and this device is about ensuring their personal safety while doing their job.   We hope that it will not be needed too often but it is there as a safety precaution.
 
“Our research has shown that when the personal CCTV cameras are in place they are in fact a deterrent and have proved very effective in de-escalating potential conflict situations
 
Traffic wardens currently operate in six towns throughout the county including Letterkenny, Buncrana, Ballybofey, Ballyshannon, Donegal Town and Bundoran. 
 
“They provide a very valuable service in each of these towns ensuring effective traffic management and this includes the pay and display car parking facilities, the freeing up of car parking spaces in town centres to facilitate traders and ensuring that road markings such as double yellow lines are complied with.  These road traffic laws have been introduced for very good reasons and traffic wardens fulfil a very important duty in making sure these laws are enforced.
 
‘Traffic wardens also assist schools in these areas during busy times of the day and are also on hand to give advice and directions to visitors and locals alike.
 
Traffic wardens are also responsible for issuing parking tickets and on the spot fines for parking violations, however John McLaughlin is keen to point out that the Council does not incentivise the issuing of tickets stating “the key performance indicator for Traffic Wardens is the number of vehicles logged on their patrols, not the number of parking tickets or fines issued”.
 
The Council has recently established a new centralised Parking section which is based in Letterkenny Public Service Centre.  The role of this new Parking section is to provide an impartial and consistent approach to enforcement across the entire county. 
 
John McLaughlin notes that this dedicated section will be looking at introducing new initiatives that will make the service more efficient and user-friendly, stating that “for example we are currently looking at introducing a ‘Text to Pay’ service and other online options that will make the service more convenient and accessible to the public”.
 
You can contact the Parking Section by email at parkingsection@donegalcoco.ie or call 074 91 53900.