A council in north Wales is proposing to do away with control room monitoring staff.
Gwynedd Council’s 73-camera system covers Bangor, Maesgeirchen, Caernarfon, Pendalar/Maes Barcer and Pwllheli (pictured; rail station); monitored in a control room in Caernarfon. North Wales Police (NWP) have confirmed that the CCTV service provides them with assistance especially in dealing with antisocial behaviour and shoplifting. Figures from 2016 show that the local police force made an average of 47 requests per month for surveillance footage. Gwynedd’s CCTV service has an annual budget of £190,000 – itself cut from past years – and it attracts an income of £48,820 from internal functions such as monitoring the council’s depots, and a further £34,850 income from other contributors namely North Wales Police, Bangor City Council, Caernarfon Town Council, Pwllheli Town Council and the University of Bangor.
Lately due to cutting of the budget, the control room has not been 24-7, a report told councillors. The cameras are analogue and the Maxpro VMS (video management system), which controls the system, is described as ‘a matter of concern’ since it is reaching the end of its operational life; as are several of the analogue cameras. A consultant covered three options: end the service, go to single manning, or unmanned control room. While a report to the council accepts that a manned control room can respond to incidents, going unmanned will release more money for new kit, including giving remote access to police; wireless transmission instead of renting BT fibre, and high definition cameras (and more of them) ‘which will enable the recording of better quality footage and in a format suitable for the use in courts’. Hence the report recommends that the council go for an unmanned control room, but spends £489,000 on new equipment.
