14 August 2012
Residents across Caerphilly county borough can feel safe in the knowledge that CCTV has been expanded across two areas of Caerphilly county borough – and that CCTV is playing a key role in the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour in the area.
The council's CCTV operators monitor in excess of 150 CCTV cameras, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and act as a vital tool in detecting and preventing crime and anti-social behaviour.
This number has recently been added to, with the introduction of additional CCTV cameras installed in the Gelligaer and Pantside areas of Caerphilly county borough.
Cllr David Poole, Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure Services at Caerphilly County Borough Council said, "I hope that the installation of these additional cameras will help increase levels of community reassurance across the area - CCTV continues to play a vital role in helping ensure that our county borough remains a safe place to live, work and visit".
In addition, over the last year Caerphilly County Borough Council's CCTV operators have monitored or dealt with a total of 2,326 incidents and have provided 985 DVDs of recorded evidence to Gwent Police. CCTV operators also received a total of 1,649 requests for monitoring from Gwent Police.
Effective use of CCTV has resulted in a vast number of positive outcomes over the last year – a few examples including:
- Theft of lead from the roof of a primary school was witnessed by a CCTV operator who immediately reported the offence to Gwent Police. On arrest, one of the individuals also admitted to previous similar offences at another school
- CCTV operators witnessed the theft of tools from a business unit – Gwent Police were called to attend and arrests were made
- Drug taking and drug supply was witnessed via town centre CCTV cameras – on three occasions during the past year, Gwent Police have been called to attend and arrests have been made.
In addition, CCTV was also used effectively when a lone female was sighted unconscious at the rear of a public house in very cold weather. The woman took several days in hospital to recover from hypothermia, although the consequences may have been even more serious but for the intervention of the CCTV operator.
Cllr Poole continued, "These a just a few examples of how effective CCTV is in combating crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour in our area, and residents should feel very reassured and safe in the knowledge that our dedicated team of CCTV operators are working day and night in order to help protect and improve our communities for the benefit of all".
As well as monitoring over 150 CCTV cameras borough-wide, CCTV operators also have control of a series of 'talking' CCTV cameras, which enable them to issue a warning to people involved in an incident via a speaker system that their behaviour is being monitored, and that where necessary, the police will be/have been called.
These speaker systems have been used effectively on a number of occasions, and in most cases have diffused the situation completely.
In addition, the council also have a number of deployable cameras, called OSCARs, which offer even greater opportunities for more flexible deployment, as well as a mobile CCTV vehicle that can be deployed to 'hotspot' locations as and when required.
Help buttons linking straight to Caerphilly's CCTV operators have also been installed at Blackwood bus station to aid passengers calling for help. The buttons, which are there to increase public safety, are located throughout the bus station and when pressed, CCTV cameras zoom in on the area and allow control room staff to talk to the person who presses the button, via an intercom system.
For further information on the use of CCTV cameras in Caerphilly county borough, please visit www.caerphilly.gov.uk/saferccb.
- Return to Home