189 official CCTV cameras now watching Plymouth streets
PEOPLE in Plymouth are watched by 189 official CCTV cameras in public places, according to figures obtained by a public watchdog.
Over the past four years the city has spent more than £1.8million on official surveillance, the organisation Big Brother Watch said.
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Although Plymouth is the country's 14th biggest city, its CCTV spending ranks as number 102 among 428 local authorities, according to the figures, which were obtained through Freedom of Information requests.
Plymouth City Council said the sum of £1,832,471 paid for administrative costs, salaries and pensions.
"It also takes into account significant capital for improvements around Devonport as part of the Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership," a council spokeswoman said.
"Our main cameras are monitored 24 hours a day from a CCTV control room with direct links to the police.
"The control room team has been praised as being pivotal in the city achieving a number of national community safety awards."
She said the council had around 189 cameras registered for use in crime prevention and public safety and 20 in the traffic management network.
"We believe the cameras create an extra sense of security for people going about their business, especially after dark and are extremely effective when presented as evidence in court.
"We have installed another 65 cameras in the Western Approach car park. Not only will this enable us to qualify for a safer car park award, people do feel safer knowing we are keeping an eye on them and their vehicle."
Stephen Otter, the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall, said last week that £1million would pay for about 30 officers. A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said CCTV in Plymouth city centre also helped to prevent crimes being committed, which could not be measured.
"Funding for CCTV comes from a number of pots of money. The police contribute because it is felt to be a useful tool."
Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "Britain has an out-of-control surveillance culture that is doing little to improve public safety but has made our cities the most watched in the world.
"Surveillance is an important tool but it is not a substitute for policing.
"Despite millions of cameras, Britain's crime rate is not significantly lower than comparable countries."
Big Brother Watch is calling for a code of practice that includes a requirement to refer to crime statistics or demonstrate a significant risk of harm before putting up a new camera.
Plymouth council leader Vivien Pengelly said the city's CCTV control room staff were given a Chief Constable's award after the 2008 Exeter bombing by Plymouth man Nicky Reilly.
"They worked day and night going over old film to track his movements before the bombing," Mrs Pengelly said.
The Association of Chief Police Officers said in a statement: "CCTV forms a vital element within modern policing and a Metropolitan Police study has shown that in their area, more than 70per cent of murder investigations were solved with the help of CCTV retrievals."
21 Comments
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by berridge1
Thursday, February 23 2012, 1:21PM
“well done PCC more cameras please mr pickles if you have nothing to hide you should not be worried about CCTV.
these guys do a great job keep it up your worth every penny of your pensions.
They are a great help solving crime, they help out with medical emergencies, they find missing people, and many of the assaults that occur are caught on camera and the idiots get brought to justice.
so imagine a city without CCTV, the scrouts would have a field day.
Keep up the good work guys.”
by 147ref
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 7:52PM
“i don't mind the camera as got nothing to hide, but do object to paying their bloody golden handshake pensions,”
by hjm4l
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 7:33PM
“Modern policing means more cameras and less officers on the ground but if a lot of these cameras are not working then surely it leads people into a false sense of security.
As jennyplym stated the quality of the image needs to be up to scratch to be totally viable and they need to be in the areas where there are continual ongoing problems with crime.
I do,however,feel slightly uneasy that increased use on the pretext of crime detection is not the main reason and our privacy is being eroded even further.
People choose to visit social networking sites of their own volition and are happy to divulge personal information,if they are willing to do so then it's up to them.
Crime is allowed to flourish because punishments are not severe enough to act as a deterrent but if there were serious consequences for their actions then the crime rate should fall to a level whereby it can be policed properly,as it should be,and not by remote control.”
by digger51
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 6:41PM
“Have you seen the quality of some of these CCTV cameras when pictures from them are in the Evening Herald, i wouldn't be able to pick anyone out from them, there shocking.”
by Jon_33
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 6:27PM
“Cameras haven't done very much to prevent crime recently, have they?”
by BenBrah
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 3:50PM
“Couldn't care less
People want to feel safe then moan and cry about cctv being every where.
Pick one or the other you can't have both.”
by josdave
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 2:33PM
“While it is true they cannot prevent crimes they do go a long way towards solving them and anything which helps bring a few of the brainless thugs around into the cells has got to be a good thing.”
by Asyouwouldbedoneby
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 1:15PM
“However never a camera around when you need one!”
by NewDad2010
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 12:56PM
“I can imagine the same people moaning about their privacy being invaded don't think twice for displaying their life for the whole world to see via social networking sites.
I personally have no issue with them because I am an honest and do not intend on breaking the law. If these cameras prevent crime or catch criminals then they are worth it.”
by jennyplym
Tuesday, February 21 2012, 11:45AM
“Yes the the pictures usually seem blurred and not of very high quality as we saw in the Herald last night!
I would go one further ALL Pubs and Clubs must by law have proper working CCTV inside and outside the premises, with high quality reproduction of images, when I worked in a Pub up-country a several years ago it was the condition of the Licence to have this, even though the pub was well run and there had never been any trouble in the past, both bar areas were covered and the outside via multi-plex system the images were excellent cost the Landlord a lot to instal it but he looked at it as an investment, a few years later someone was violently attacked late at night (when incidentially the pub was closed but the CCTV ran 24/7) totally unconnected to the pub in the street and the police were able to get excellent images from this pubs CCTV and made a speedy arrest, the person was unable to give a description as they were attacked from behind and knocked unconscious very badly beaten in an unprovoked attack they can be very valuable, especially now since Plymouth is becoming so very violent, especially since we are told most of this violence is drink fuelled.”