City council's CCTV cameras will undergo £1m upgrade despite cuts
A £1 MILLION proposal to upgrade CCTV to new digital technology is to go ahead – despite city council plans to slash its monitoring of the cameras in budget cuts.
Residents have raised concerns that Stoke-on-Trent City Council's plans to scale back its observation of the city's camera network will lead to an increase in crime.
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Stoke-on-Trent City Council's CCTV cameras will undergo upgrades, despite budget cuts.
The move will help save £782,000 with the loss of 19 jobs alongside plans to cut the environmental crime unit which investigates fly-tipping, littering and dog-fouling.
But the authority has confirmed it is continuing with plans to upgrade its network of 238 cameras to digital as its current spy cameras are out of date and too difficult to maintain.
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It is also spending more than £4 million on a data centre – including a new CCTV monitoring unit.
Cameras will continue to operate around-the-clock but staffing will be reduced and they will no longer be monitored at times of 'low demand' as part of the council's £21.1 million savings for 2013/14. Staffordshire Police has acknowledged the importance of the city's CCTV cameras in improving safety and reducing fear of crime. But the force, which declined to comment directly on the budget proposal, has turned down several requests from the city council to help pay for the cameras as it tackles its own budget cuts.
Steven Pritchard, chairman of the residents' association in Portland and Cobridge, where there are seven cameras, said: "In our case the cameras don't bring a lot of benefit because they are already not being monitored at the right times.
"We've asked them to use the cameras to tackle some of the fly-tipping problems we've had.
"I don't see the rationale behind the plan. Like a lot of things they're doing it seems short-sighted because if they end up having to clear up more fly-tipping it is only going to cost them more money."
Jim Gibson, chairman of Chell Heath residents' association, said: "There's a reason these things are done in the first place.
"The reason hasn't become any less relevant so there's no cause to do this."
Little Chell and Stanfields councillor Dave Conway, leader of the opposition City Independents, added: "The cameras were put in because of concerns about crime and Stoke North MP Joan Walley was instrumental in getting them installed.
"They cost a lot of money and they were put there for a purpose."
Pete Price, the city council's assistant director for technical services, said: "Community CCTV is an important but non-statutory service wholly funded by the council.
"Continuance of the service at the current scale has had to be proposed for reduction to meet the budget available to the council, along with other equally sensitive areas.
"We will work to deliver reductions at those times when there is a low level of demand on the service, to minimise the impact on customers, and the system will continue to operate on a 24/7 basis – even though staffing levels may be lower at certain times."
Comments
by Scooby
Saturday, December 01 2012, 1:31PM
“If the man hours are being cut why not the council stream the cameras live on the web so that all the keyboard warriors can watch and inform the relavent body when anything happens ?
As for the CCTV upgrade £1m for camera waching the kettle in the council canteen is going a bit too far !”
by stevenweiss
Saturday, December 01 2012, 1:29PM
“Stoke Stasi”
by Choco
Saturday, December 01 2012, 7:03AM
“Some people watch far too much CSI and read far too many comics. I doubt the cctv department have the resource to 'watch every move' people make. I'm guessing its more of a reactive service,and an assist in catching criminals, if crime could be predicted then there wouldn't be any. All you can do is have the tools in place to help prevent crime, and have a mechanism to assist in public safety.
Lets hope the 'odd sexual offence' never occurs to you and yours in and around the city, when the cameras are turned off. Or would you prefer Miss Marple to help catch your criminals for you?”
by Redtone
Saturday, December 01 2012, 4:05AM
“Qui est custode ipso custodes?
They throw up the odd prevented robbery or sexual assault... but that's not what it's really about. Has anyone asked how the knowledge state sanctioned nosey Parkers are watching your every move affects people?
No. Like mobile phones, technology forges ahead and us confused monkeys are forced to catch up. I'm old enough to remember Hanley was no different, if not even better, before CCTV.
Looking for savings? Switch them off!”
by davidmayer
Saturday, December 01 2012, 12:54AM
“FOUR MILLION? ON A DATA CENTRE???
SPY CAMERAS?
HOLY COW, WE'RE PAYING FOR THEM TO WATCH US.”
by castleblack
Friday, November 30 2012, 6:11PM
“low level of demand whens this are the criminals going to tell pete price they are stopping in crime is a 24 hour business cctv should be fully man 24 hours will pete price say sorry we did not see any thing nobody was watching”
by DJofTNE
Friday, November 30 2012, 3:40PM
“Makes sense, like all the other council decisions, they really are clued up !”
by smithy1980
Friday, November 30 2012, 1:12PM
“What is the point of spending all this money on a new system when the council are making cuts at the CCTV monitoring department. Surely you can have the best system in the world but it will not help anyone if there is no one watching it!!”
by Robnoxious
Friday, November 30 2012, 12:50PM
“Not only have they been demaned,, when people complain about the anti-social behaviour that goes on. sometimes in view of these cameras Nobody is interested. Drug dealing,drinking you name it. People that are living, IN COUNCIL HOUSES. WHY IS IT HAPPENING. WHY ARE THEY NOT BEING CHALLENGED.Then to top it all, the neighbours that are complaining and suffering though this, what happens. it's them what has to make the move. The guilty go unpunished, then some other poor sole gets to live next door to them. Then the innocent party that moves to another location, get offered an house next to another problem family. The council were aware why the move was. Drugs related, but were prepared to put a young family with children into another bad ongoing situation, which was pointed out to them when the property was viewed .HAS THIS COUNCIL NO MORALS. ,”
by Choco
Friday, November 30 2012, 10:14AM
“I was not aware that under the Safer City Scheme, that the CCTV in Stoke on Trent had a primary function of monitoring for fly tipping. If this is the case why have an environmental crime unit in the first place, as according to Pritchard, it must be a huge problem in his area? So the environmental crime is not doing its job surely?
All the drug crime, prostitution, thefts and violence that is monitored and produced for evidence for conviction is of no consequence in these areas, as long as the expensive and highly successful cctv system is monitoring open spaces where there might or might not be a waste deposit.”