Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council has experienced a reduction in town centre crime in Shrewsbury installation of CCTV.
Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council has experienced a reduction in town centre crime in Shrewsbury installation of CCTV. The 25 pan, tilt and zoom colour Photo-Scan Systems cameras have had a marked effect on public order offences and vandalism, police report. West Mercia Police form part of a CCTV partnership behind the monitoring. Gary Howell, borough engineer, said: ?The CCTV installation forms part of a community safety project. We have established a direct line of communications with the police force by providing a visual link with our central control room, allowing both teams to see exactly what is happening in the town. As a result, they are extremely effective in working together in identifying and dealing with potential trouble spots or specific crimes.? As the West Mercia Constabulary building is also the headquarters for Shropshire, it has the ability to become a central response station for the county. Gary Howell added: ?When specifying our CCTV requirement, we requested Photo-Scan to build-in remote monitoring capabilities, which they have done. This means that other towns or private companies throughout Shropshire can take advantage of our 24-hour monitoring capability, which should prove financially attractive to those potential users that currently are concerned about the cost implications of having staff on duty 24-hours a day.?
About the system
Originally the system was to be set up as a non-profit making venture under the auspices of the Community Care Through Vision (Shrewsbury) Trust. The Trust evolved from an initial evaluation carried out by the Shrewsbury Crime Prevention Panel that was instrumental in gaining funding from the first round of the Government?s CCTV Challenge. Since then additional funding has been obtained through sponsorship and, following a restructuring the project is now run by the council.
