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When it was first installed in March 1997, 45 cameras kept a watchful
eye on the city centre and council-run car parks. Now, there are 136
cameras operating around the clock, seven days a week, with coverage
extended to include the city’s townships, local community shopping
areas, residential and business districts, and a host of public
buildings.
Video tape has been ditched in
favour of digital recording and the eagle-eyed operators now have
direct radio links with police. Live images can be beamed to
Cambridgeshire Constabulary and operators are linked by radio to
retailers, pubs, clubs and city council staff across Peterborough.
Advances in technology have resulted in the introduction of mobile
cameras, which are also used for police controlled Automatic Number
Plate Recognition (ANPR) operations.
“The city’s cameras have been
responsible for recording more than 100,000 incidents and
instrumental in helping to detain 15,574 people,” said the city
council’s CCTV manager Roy Wildman. “These figures provide
conclusive and compelling evidence that CCTV has significantly
assisted the criminal justice system. It has helped police deal with
everything ranging from routine crime to large scale national
investigations.
“The system’s effectiveness was
demonstrated within days of going live when CCTV operators were able
to locate and direct police to a man who was responsible for an
armed robbery at a city centre building society.
“Since then it has captured disorder
involving rival fans prior to a pre-season friendly football match
between Peterborough and Nottingham Forest in 2001. The value of the
CCTV evidence received praise from the Crown Court judge in his
sentencing of some 19 people for various offences of disorder and
violence.
“In addition, details of a sex
offender believed to be in Peterborough were passed to the CCTV team
via Cambridgeshire Constabulary. CCTV operators located him in the
Westwood area that evening and the police were able to arrest him.
He was later convicted of rape and his capture, as with numerous
offences solved over the past 10 years, was thanks to the city’s
CCTV system.”
Peterborough was the first local
authority CCTV system in the country to have a police liaison
officer work within its control room. This extended to include
networked computer links to enable the officer to carry out the CCTV
investigation of reported crimes and incidents, provide control room
staff with daily crime trends, and details of wanted and missing
people. In addition, it allowed items of intelligence captured via
CCTV to be directly recorded onto the police intelligence systems.
Chief Inspector Steve Lodge said:
“CCTV is a vital and extremely successful crime prevention and crime
fighting tool. Cameras act as an effective deterrent and their
ability to capture crime in action allows us to present compelling
evidence for prosecution.
“We will continue to work closely
with the council’s CCTV operators to build on the success seen over
the past 10 years.”
Recorded images are retained for 31
days and are essential for post incident investigation by police.
However, other agencies such as HM Revenue and Customs, as well as
council departments with enforcement responsibilities, see CCTV as a
vital tool.
“Residents can be in no doubt that
the CCTV system has made the city’s streets safer over the past 10
years,” said Councillor Graham Murphy, Cabinet member for
Environment and Community Safety at the city council. “The city’s
136 cameras fulfil an essential crime fighting role and I am sure we
will be celebrating their continued success in another 10 years.
“By then advances in software will
allow better identification of people through a facial recognition
system and operators will be alerted to any unusual behaviour
through behavioural recognition software. There will be greater use
of wireless technology and networks for CCTV transmission, as well
as nationally agreed strategies for CCTV and its use to achieve
uniformity of standards and operation.
“Meanwhile, I welcome the ongoing
proactive and positive work the CCTV officers have been carrying out
over the past 12 months. There involvement in tackling environmental
crime in the city, which has helped to strengthen our stance on
enforcement, has proved invaluable.”
March 2007 -
Peterborough UK Community Website
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