CCTV fails to film attack
Footage of violent attacks in Welshpool has been lost because the town's CCTV system is not working, it was revealed today.
An assault on an elderly woman by two youths which left the pensioner hospitalised was not picked up by the cameras, shocked members of Welshpool Town Council heard. In a letter, police called for urgent repairs on the camera system.
At yesterday's meeting clerk Ken Fletcher said he had been told by police that repairs were needed to the CCTV network after he had received a letter about a violent incident in the town centre.
"A person was attacked in Berriew Street and they were confident the perpetrator's face would have been seen on the CCTV system.
"However, they were disturbed to learn that the system wasn't working," he said.
And Councillor Jack Peatroy said that when an elderly woman in Oldford had been attacked so badly by two youths that she required hospital treatment, the evidence that should have been available from the security cameras was not there.
"There have been other occasions on the Oldford Estate when there has been criminal activity that should have been recorded by CCTV and hasn't because the system hasn't been working.
"I would back wholeheartedly that it is put right," he said.
Mr Fletcher said Dyfed Powys Police community safety officer Constable Gareth Slaymaker had confirmed there were problems with the system that needed repairs and had requested the council fund them.
Welshpool's CCTV system was set up when the Welshpool Partnership was operating.
When that ceased to exist the town council, as one of the original sponsors of the scheme, had "by default" become responsible for maintaining the system, Mr Fletcher said.
"The police are solely responsible for operating and monitoring the system and we have no idea there are problems with it unless they tell us," he said.
The repairs to the CCTV system will cost £1,723, the meeting heard.
Councillor Estelle Bleivas said: "I think it's awful that the cameras aren't working." Popular stories:
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