Door staff at pubs, clubs and bars in Darwen town centre in Lancashire are to get body-worn cameras to deter alcohol related disorder and antisocial behaviour.
LANPAC (Lancashire Partnership Against Crime), Darwen Town Council and the local Pubwatch are providing premises with the funding for the cameras. PC Mark Edwards, Community beat Manager for Darwen Town Centre and Sunnyhurst, said: “This project has been driven by the increase in visitors to Darwen’s licensed establishments and also to strengthen the already existing business radio scheme which links premises direct to Greenbank Police Station. The cameras are of a high quality and will go a long way to deter alcohol related antisocial behaviour in the town and also to provide excellent evidential footage, both visual and audio, which can be used to support successful prosecutions at court.
“The body worn cameras will be used to complement the already exiting CCTV systems within licensed premises and provide an additional dimension to the town centre cameras. I believe that the cameras will make customers feel safer and also provide members of staff with added re-assurance.
“We’ve already received a lot of positive feedback regarding the cameras during our month long trial which we conducted throughout April and so far the mere fact that we have them out there has defused and de-escalated many incidents already. There are many premises within the town that have already shown their support to this scheme and are interested in purchasing their own cameras to add further value to the scheme.”
