Market Drayton CCTV upgraded in bid to crack crime
New CCTV cameras have been installed in Market Drayton in a bid to combat crime.
Funding from Market Drayton Town Council is currently being used to upgrade the town's surveillance system.
New control equipment costing about £20,000 and four new CCTV cameras have already been installed. This will be followed by eight more new cameras later this year.
Before the upgrade there were nine cameras in the town and councillors are hoping to increase that number to about 30.
Julie Jones, town clerk, said: "The installing of the new cameras is going at a bit of a slow speed due to a few issues.
"We need the agreement of the building owners before we can put CCTV cameras up. We have asked Iceland and other nearby shops if we can put cameras outside their store but it is taking a while for them to come back to me.
"We have got the new recorder in place which is good. The four cameras we have installed are all in the town hall area at the moment.
"We are hoping to get the other 12 up in the next couple of weeks. I think we are nearly there – it is just taking a bit longer than I hoped. There is a lot of infrastructure and wiring that needs to go up with the cameras so it is taking a while."
The new control room is big enough to support 40 cameras. The town council has pledged about £40,000 in total to the scheme.
Ms Jones added: "The new cameras are absolutely brilliant. You can see the pictures they record very clearly. They are much better than the ones we had before. The quality is brilliant and they really are state-of-the-art.
"In phase one we are hoping to get nine to 12 new cameras around the town hall and library area. Then if we are happy with that system and all is working well we will start phase two. Phase two will be another 20 cameras spread out through the town.
"It is a new state-of-the-art system. The old cameras will come down and be replaced."
A call was made by police and civic leaders in 2014 for higher quality CCTV in the town.
At the time PC Mick Sturland, of the Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: "Obviously, the CCTV system is quite outdated now and the quality of footage available on modern systems is far superior and this would undoubtedly benefit our efforts to detect and prevent crime."
