Figures released by Portsmouth City Council for 2006 show, the south coast local authority says, the importance of the network of 172 CCTV cameras in helping law enforcement.
During 2006 the cameras recorded over 9000 incidents in the city. The cameras, all run from the control room in the Portsmouth Civic Offices, by a team of 11 staff, that work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, have been widely used to help combat anti-social behaviour.
"The CCTV network is both a deterrent to would-be criminals and a tool for collecting evidence for prosecution of those who do break the law," said Head of Community Safety Rachael Dalby. "In 2006 alone, 1417 arrests were made assisted by the CCTV team. And, in the 11 years since the network has been installed, over 15,000 arrests have been made in the city where cameras have collected evidence for prosecution."
Ray Stead, who is Portsmouth City Council’s CCTV Manager, said:" We have a strict code of practice relating to data protection and human rights ensuring that there is no abuse of the system. This governs the release of CCTV images to external authorities and the media and is adhered to at all times. The camera system has been used to assist enforcement agencies solving murder enquiries, preventing anti social behaviour and drug trafficking as well as monitoring traffic and health and safety issues around the City."
The CCTV control room works with Hampshire Constabulary, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, Inland Revenue, transport police and agencies within the council. In 11 years, the CCTV cameras have been involved in more than 105,000 incidents located by the network, including incidents reported by other people and covered on camera, and incidents requested to be covered by Hampshire Constabulary.
2006 figures for CCTV incidents include:
2618 incidents located and recorded by cameras
2246 incidents reported by others
4497 incidents requested to be recorded by the police. Out of these:
359 arrests were made because of CCTV crews noticing incidents
522 arrests were made by police following a request for CCTV cameras to record an incident
536 arrests were made following requests for recording incidents by other individuals and organisations.
