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City CCTV overhaul welcomed
Written by yorkguides.co.uk   

Benefits for public safety and crime-fighting expected from replacement of camera network

Julie Hemmings Yorkshire Post Today
POLICE and community safety organisations have welcomed plans to overhaul York's security camera network.

At present the city has 60 cameras but parts of its CCTV network date back more than 15 years, making it near-obsolete and impossible to extend in its present form.
City councillors have been told that more than £200,000 needs to be spent to replace the system with a modern, flexible alternative utilising full
digital recording.
The existing analogue system uses fibre optic links and records mainly onto VHS video cassettes, which alone cost £6,000 each year to replace.
At present only cameras in car parks – 25 out of the 60 city-wide – can record digitally but full digital recording across York would give better quality images and more storage capa ity
Councillors meet tomorrow to discuss the proposals and are being recommended to back the replacement of the existing network and expand digital recording to cameras across the city.
The main CCTV control room is at Fulford Road police station and staffed around the clock by council employees, who are in close contact with police.
There are further display screens in the council offices at St Leonard's Place, which are used mainly to monitor traffic.
St Leonard's Place is also home to the system's "matrix", the link which enables images from any camera to be sent to any screen or keyboard in the control rooms.
The matrix is the part of the CCTV system in most urgent need of replacement, which would cost more than £85,000.
The fibre-optic links cost £45,000 to rent each year from BT and the upgrade proposal
includes replacing fibre optics with a wireless connection.
Converting cameras to compatibility with the wireless connection would have a one-off cost in the region of £90,000 but the wireless network would enable cameras to be connected more quickly than at present .
It would also allow cheaper, even mobile, cameras to be part of the system, which would be particularly useful for viewing traffic.
Images could also be webcast on the internet so that motorists could check traffic around the city – a trial scheme has been running for the past six months using a webcam in Tadcaster Road.
Carole Patrick, funding and communications manager for the Safer York Partnership, said that a better CCTV system would bring major benefits for public safety and crime-fighting in the city.
She added: "We welcome anything which enhances the quality of images, the speed with which they are available, or which increases rates of response to incidents.
"All this has to be good for York."
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said CCTV was a valuable tool in bringing offenders to justice.
"CCTV has brought massive benefits, not only to the police but also to the community in general," he said.
"It's made criminals and drivers reconsider what they do and where they do it and initial fears that town centre CCTV would displace crime do not appear to have been justified.
"It is a deterrent and its presence also acts to reassure people and make them feel better."
 
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