Clippings (Feb 2000)

Report on CCTV was 'misleading' (Aire Valley Target, 17 Feb 2000)

Danger? Just press the spy TV button (T&A, 19 Feb, 2000)

Do the 'spy cameras' make you feel safer? (Aire Valley Target, 3 Feb, 2000)

Work on city safety pays off with top award (T&A 2 Feb, 2000)

Big boost for our reputation (Editorial, T&A, 2 Feb 2000)

Rising crime (Letters to the Editor, T&A, Feb 2, 2000)

Damside gets £17,400 'spy in the sky' (T&A 1 Feb 2000)

KEIGHLEY: Private sector works with regeneration group to fund camera

Damside gets £17,400 'spy in the sky'

Another area of Keighley is to come under the spotlight following the installation of a security camera.

Bradford Council, Keighley single regeneration budget bosses and the private sector have jointly funded the £17,400 camera, which will focus on the Damside area.

It has been installed following a feasibility study to find out where a new camera was most needed.

Keighley Brewery, Timothy Taylor, which owns two pubs in the area, Reg Thomson Cars and restaurant, Shimla Spice, have contributed £4,000 towards the cost of the scheme.

Keighley already has 11 closed circuit television cameras in the town centre, which were set up four years ago.

The new camera will scan properties in Church Street, Halifax Road and around the High Street roundabout.

Councillor John Ruding, of Community Safety, said: "Bradford Council has led the way with CCTV over the past ten years to try and reduce crime and make people feel safer when walking about."

Councillor Barry Thorne, chairman of Keighley Town Centre Management team, said he was pleased to see the Council and local business people working together to enhance the Damside area.

Rising crime

SIR - Re "CCTV has cut fear of crime" (T&A, January 21).

Yes, the statistics may show small falls in incidents of non-domestic break-ins, assaults and vehicle thefts. But there was one statistic, regarding the rise in thefts from person, which was given little prominence in your article.

A rise from 14 to 42 incidents (200 per cent increase) of this offence is alarming to say the least. Such an increase certainly doesn't give much reassurance about the safety of walking around Shipley centre and its immediate environs.

Work on city safety pays off with top award

Years of pioneering work to make the district a safer place will be celebrated by Bradford Council, the police and local businesses tomorrow.

Representatives from the partner organisations will gather at City Hall in Bradford to officially mark the authority's Beacon Council status award.

The coveted status has been awarded by the Government in recognition of its good practice in community safety and is linked to the initiatives introduced as part of the Council's Best Value Pilot Project, "Fighting Crime For A Safer District." It means Bradford will become an example to the rest of Britain in community safety.

Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood said: "Although Beacon status was awarded to the authority we would not have been able to achieve it without the hard work and co-operation of everyone concerned, not only within the Council but also by our many partners."

Bradford became one of the first districts in the country 12 years ago to set up a group, Bradford Inner City Licensee's Association (BICLA), where licensees, the police and the Council work together to target drink-related disorder in the city centre.

Since BICLA's inception in 1989, drink-related disorder in the city centre has fallen by 88 per cent.

The initiative was taken a step further in 1991 when door staff at pubs and clubs began to receive special training in how to make citizens arrests, detect the presence of drugs and use reasonable force to restrain people, as well as learn basic fire fighting techniques.

As a result the number of serious assaults involving door staff and clients in the city centre has fallen by 90 per cent.

Another example of successful partnerships is the recent award to the district of nearly £1 million in Government grants to update and extend CCTV cameras in the city centre.

The money will be used to provide 24 new cameras, linked by fibre optic cable to a new state-of-the-art monitoring centre and to Bingley, Shipley and Keighley town centres, a mobile CCTV system and to modernise the existing cameras in the city centre car parks.

Big boost for our reputation

The Beacon Council status award being presented to Bradford today is important to the future of the city. It is official recognition of the work which has been done to make the district a safer place. That recognition should, in its turn, inspire greater confidence from businesses and the public.

The award is the result of a dozen years of hard work which began when BICLA (Bradford Inner City Licensees' Association) began to target drink-related disorder in the city centre, subsequently cutting it by a reported 88 per cent and making Bradford a safer place for law-abiding people to enjoy a night out. That was followed by the training of door staff at pubs and clubs to successfully reduce the number of violent incidents and detect drugs abuse.

This does not mean, of course, that Bradford at night is trouble-free. Where there are young people, alcohol and drugs, there are always bound to be problems. But there have been major strides taken in the right direction.

More recently have been the CCTV systems installed in the city centre and in the district's towns. And the latest move is the patrols by private security guards on the Vicar Lane and Westgate car parks.

It is encouraging that it has been decided to extend these for a further month before reviewing their success. Many people have been reassured to know that someone is keeping an eye on their parked vehicles. That reassurance is vital if people are to feel more confident that they can entrust their cars - and themselves - to Bradford.

Do the 'spy cameras' make you feel safer?

Spy-in-the-sky cameras have made Shipley a safer place, according to a report just out. The number of shop break-ins, assaults and car thefts has dropped since the CCTV system was launched in the town back in June 1998.

But despite the introduction of five cameras in Market Square, Wellcroft, Fox Corner and Westgate, other crimes including theft from people have increased.

The first evaluation of the system was carried out by independent consultant Inter Force Assistance.

Figures included.in the report show 5.3 and 11.5 per cent drops in the number of assaults and vehicle thefts respectively but a rise from 14 to 42 thefts from people in Shipley Centre.

This week Target reporter KATHIE GRIFFITHS went to Shipley to ask people if they felt safer knowing that CCTV had its eye on them.

"Personally I've never felt at risk shopping in Shipley but I'm usually only here at daytime. "I imagine it's pretty deserted in some parts of the centre at night because there aren't many pubs nearby. I wouldn't want to have to walk through by myself.

"I suppose the good thing about the cameras is that they might act as some kind of deterrent. ,

"If the criminals know they are there and that they are being watched it will hopefully stop them from breaking the law."

"As a male it doesn't really bother me whether we have CCTV cameras or not in the town.

"I've lived here for seven years and I've never seen any trouble in the centre anyway.

"The only dodgy part in the centre is round by Asda at the cash points. It's a bit dark and gloomy there and even though there are some cameras it's still a little unnerving if 1 go to get cash out on my way home from work on a night. "Having the cameras round and about the centre probably make some people feel safer though."

"Some people probably don't like the idea of being watched by cameras while you go about your business, shopping or whatever but if they're innocent and not doing anything they shouldn't be doing then they don't have to worry!

"To be honest I hadn't even realised there were any cameras keeping an eye on the centre.

"It's good news if the crime rate has dropped - it shows the cameras must be having an effect.

"Elderly people probably feel a lot safer in town knowing that they are there - that's if they've noticed them."

"I think the cameras have been a great idea.

"I' know that if there was any trouble the cameras would be there to See it all and get help on the way - that's good to know.

"When 1 come out drinking now and again with friends in Shipley it can be a bit creepy walking from pub to pub in the dark so the cameras make it a little less worrying.

"Shipley's problem is groups of teenagers roaming around the centre, they can be quite intimidating for women - I think they are more threatening than men."

"Shopping in Shipley's never worried me, I've never felt unsafe.

"I wouldn't describe Shipley as a risky place to come to but I can understand the need for the cameras especially at night.

"I'd have thought a place like Bradford City Centre would need the cameras more than here but whoever decided to put the cameras in in the first place must have been convinced Shipley had a demand for them - if crime his dropped then they were obviously right."

"I work at Asda and so 1 know there's quite a lot of crime going on in the town centre.

"There's a lot of shop lifters and pick-pockets, it was especially bad at Christmas but 1 suppose people are more desperate then. "People break in to cars in the car park and all that sort of thing.

"Quite a few of the staff at work have had their cars broken in to while they've been busy working.

"It's reassuring to know that some of the types of crimes have fallen but 1 think there's still a lot of work needed to beat crime and it can't all be done with cameras ~ they can't replace having police actually patrolling the streets."

Security: New link-up will let frightened people talk to control centre

Danger? Just press the spy TV button

Frightened people who believe they are being followed or in danger could soon get help at the touch of a button.

The buttons on the masts holding closed circuit television cameras would put the victim in touch with a control centre being set up in Britannia House.

The camera would zoom down on the caller, who would be able to talk to the operators through a special link.

Bradford Council's community safety officer, Sharmilla Ghandi, said: "We hope to introduce them in car parks soon and believe they will be a real help to people who are in fear of crime."

And, in a second innovative scheme, a safe place may be provided in the city centre where people could lock themselves in and summon help.

The city's Crime and Disorder Partnership - made up of the Council, police and other organisations - is stepping up its campaign to keep people safe after winning a bid to the Home Office for almost £1 million.

The grant will enable it to provide 22 more CCTV cameras and set up a state-of-the-art nerve centre in Britannia House.

The centre will be manned for 24 hours a day. Staff recruitment has begun and the centre is expected to open next spring.

Bradford Council's community safety spokesman, Councillor John Ruding, said it would not need planning permission and work was about to start to fit it out.

He said: "It will mean that trained controllers can see what is happening as cameras feed into the centre."

The partnership is now looking for funding for the push button help points and is likely to ask businesses for sponsorship

The bid for Government cash followed an independent survey pinpointing areas which would benefit from the camera.

The existing city centre CCTV system was one of the first in the country when it was installed nine years ago but is now badly out-of-date.

Report on CCTV was 'misleading'

SIR - Your article on CCTV in Shipley was highly misleading, giving the impression that these cameras had led to a cut in crime: "Spy-in-the sky cameras have made Shipley a safer place, according to a report just out" (Target, February 3). This is the complete opposite of the truth. Since the cameras were installed and went 'live' in June, 1998, crime has gone up in Shipley centre by over 20 per cent. We were told at the time to expect a 20 per cent reduction! This is the first increase in six years. There has been a 200 per cent increase in "theft from the person", a 50 per cent increase in "theft from cars" and a 23 per cent increase in "robbery".

In fact, of nine different categories of crime measured, only three showed a small drop.

No matter what spin you care to put on these figures, the CCTV system in Shipley has been a complete failure.

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