An expanded 24-hour-a-day hi-tech control centre will allow police to react to incidents in two of Shropshire’s busiest towns as soon as problems occur.
Telford & Wrekin Council and Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council will today officially launch a new partnership for CCTV cameras installed in parts of Telford to be monitored from Shrewsbury.
Officials claim the crimebusting cameras will help people to enjoy themselves at night without fear of yobs spoiling it for the vast majority of law-abiding revellers.
Eight split screens showing footage from dozens of cameras from Shrewsbury, and two larger screens with live feeds from Telford & Wrekin, are being monitored as part of the £260,000 investment programme which involves working in partnership with police.
It means places with a large night-time economy where trouble could flare up - such as Oakengates and Wellington - are being focused on to clamp down on anti-social behaviour and alcohol related problems.
Chief Inspector David McWilliam, from Telford police, said: “We have the ability to pro-actively monitor incidents as they are happening but we are currently involved in a process to improve it even further.
“This would involve a live radio link with officers on the ground to significantly enhance our ability to deal with incidents as they happen quicker than we can at the moment.”
The cameras are running 24 hours a day, seven days a week with monitoring stepped up in “hotspot” areas from Thursday nights to the early hours on Sundays.
Tom Currie, strategic manager with Telford & Wrekin Council’s safer communities strategic unit, said: “There has to be a balance between the human rights of everyone and the public safety of those that quite often get caught up in situations not of their own making.
“The public will only be reassured if they know cameras are working and they are working to bring an offender to justice.”
It is hoped more CCTV systems could be monitored in time if funding is available.
By John Kirk
9 Comments
These should come in handy when the X-Factor mob realise that the High Street has disappeared along with their future.
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Good news for Criminal Defense lawyers - more arrests and prosecutions. But who is going to foot the ever increasing Legal Aid bill?
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I hear Woolies will be selling off CCTV cameras cheap over the next month or so - don’t expect a refund if you don’t like the colour though.
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Lucy, Who’s going to foot the bill? maybe we will…so what??
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Considering the state of modern behaviour in Shropshire, I’m amazed Councils and Police have not initiated massive deployment of CCTV cameras around the County. It is the modern way to ‘Police’, with more foot patrol officers to back it up instead of Police cars. No normal citizen should mind.
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Brizzie Salopian…
Wow … “the modern behaviour in Shropshire”, .. “massive deployment of CCTV”, “modern way to police”…. I don’t believe you’ve said all this !!
Just WHAT depths are our so called police going to?
When the police can send in 4 separate squads to arrest a conservative MP, raid his parliamnentary offices, and, on the news tonight, 3 officers beat up an ex-military person who served in Afghanistan - just WHAT is going on - can’t the police do ANYTHING sensible these days?
I have said before on these columns, CCTV is NOT the answer, and NEVER WILL be - we need LESS CCTV, and MORE visible and intelligent policing.
The job if the police is to patrol, not sit around gawping at CCTV screens all day.
Get rid of CCTV, and get on the beat.
At 60+ years of age , I really despair at where this is all going.
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this is when we miss jeremy beadle
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Ask is quite right about more visible and intelligent policing.
I was once told by a CID Officer that the the Police can’t operate without intellegence. But I think he was a bit harsh, they seem had have managed all right on the whole.
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At one time, when we had a real Police Force, it was the job of the Police to gain intelligence at all levels, particularly at local “beat officer” level. As for the CID, their success was measured on the amount and quality of intelligence that they gained - and the number of arrests for crime that they made. They didn’t wait for intelligence to come to them, they sought it out. They were not allowed to sit around offices, they had to be out and about, around the pubs, talking to all and sundry, noting strangers, cultivating informers and giving a few “bungs” here and there in return for good information.
In Shrewsbury, and the same would no doubt apply in other similar sized towns but I speak of there in particular, there were two long serving, old grizzled Detective Sergeants who I knew, they could drink many a pint or a dozen, they knew everyone of note at all levels from the Mayor to the local “men of the road”, they knew every criminal and likely criminal in the town, they knew in many cases who had committed a crime before they had made any enquiries and they stood no messing about from their subordinates, if they didn’t measure up by detecting crimes and making arrests they were back in uniform.
The modern Police don’t know where to start and I doubt that they would know what to do with “criminal intelligence” if they were given it on a plate. When they can fail to respond to calls for assistance, that just about sums them up. In the past it was the philosophy that it was from “calls for assistance” and similar interactions with the public, that some intelligence was gained.
The stock of the Police according to todays papers is at it’s lowest ever. No doubt this observation was prompted by the wrongful arrest of the MP but I am not surprised, old time coppers would have made sure first of all that an offence had been committed and second, that a power of arrest existed for that crime and that arrest was the most appropriate step to take. The Police, perhaps more than anyone else reflect the society which they are supposed to serve - what a sad reflection of our society.
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