More CCTV would make a ‘big difference’ in fighting local crime, an Isle of Wight police chief told councillors this week.
Superintendent Robert Mitchell responded to a question from the leader of the Isle of Wight Conservatives, Councillor Ed Blake, at a Corporate Scrutiny Committee meeting.
Cllr Blake asked Supt Mitchell what County Hall could do better in helping Island policing.
The senior police officer said:
“We’d like more CCTV. One of my inspectors did a recent fact-finding mission to Jersey…it was an Island forum we were invited to.
“The results in driving down crime and improving community sense of safety – CCTV actually, with an operator, does make a big difference.”
He added, however, that it does cost ‘a lot of money’ and was ‘challenging’ in light of challenging budgets.
Later in the meeting, Corporate Scrutiny Committee chair Councillor Clare Mosdell said:
“All of this (CCTV) is really good as long as it’s all being monitored. It’s not so much how many cameras you’ve got up, it’s who’s watching the cameras is the most useful.”
It was in May 2019 that Island Echo exclusively revealed CCTV control room operators were being axed in a bid to cut costs. Just a month later, Police concerns saw the Council make a partial U-turn.
Cameron Baxter, community safety operational manager at the Isle of Wight Council, has said:
“It’s not a case of giving police access to live footage because as we said, resources are limited. It’s more a case of police being able to access footage or knowing where cameras are when they should need it.
“So, if they’re doing an investigation in an area, they can identify that there are cameras owned there.”
The current cabinet member for community protection, Councillor Karen Lucioni, previously said she was on a ‘personal crusade’ to ensure the Island’s CCTV cameras are fully monitored and that only one person views them at a control room in Island Road’s Newport headquarters.
It’s not a live feed that is needed, it’s being able to back over recorded footage.
Get the cameras up and recording, cheap enough nowadays.
CCTV is desperately needed islandwide,
to help pay for the rollout, charge motorists
islandwide permit parking fees.
It’s common practice on the mainland to pay an annual
permit charge, bring it on.
Every little helps, make the island a safer place.
Why should motorists be required to pay to prevent shoplifters or thugs or any other villain. What is needed is not more cameras which often fail to capture the crucial act but more constables on the beat.
Who else will pay, councils are skint and need
to use all their resources.
Many other Councils around the country charge
permit parking charges, some charge ULEZ
charges too.
Every little helps.
Too be honest it will de-clutter roads that have
abandoned vehicles parked up for months and it
will free up parking spaces for other home owners.
My niece can never find a space when she returns
home from work due to many households having
numerous vehicles.
PERMIT FEES will put a STOP to this!
Police and the island are living in the dark ages, AI can not ony monitor dozens of camera’s in real time but also miss far less than a human eye, this technology is available now and can forward suspicious activity immediatley to police control rooms.
Which is fine as long as there are then officers available to be deployed.
We have 2 cctv cameras on the lamp post opposite Quay road on Ryde Esplanade and though fully maintained are not monitored, you can have as many cameras as you like but if no one is watching them what is the point.
We have daily traffic driving through the one way turnoff to access Quay road the wrong way, we have groups of youths on noisy dirt bikes driving up and down the Esplanade until the early hours of the morning and we have taxis illegally using pay and display bays without paying as their private free taxi rank.
Employ staff to watch them, the island could
generate millions of pounds in parking permit fees
that would pay the salaries for the staff needed
to watch the footage.
Don’t do as I do but do as I say
It doesn’t make an iota of difference in London the knife crime capitol, so why would it help on the island?