T&A Jan 18 2000
Retailers and the public can look forward to a safer environment in Bradford city centre from next year.
That's the message being put out by police and city leaders following the Government allocation of nearly £1 million for surveillance cameras.
The £979,279 grant, together with more than £300,000 raised locally, will pay for replacement car park cameras, new street CCTV and a 21st century control room centralising systems already running in Keighley, Bingley and Shipley as well as Bradford.
Sharmila Gandhi, the City Council's community safety policy officer, has no doubts of the benefits of an extended CCTV coverage.
"The fear of crime is far higher than the actuality of crime," she said.
"When we did a crime and disorder audit last year we asked what would make people feel safer and one of the top answers was CCTV. Older people said they didn't like using the city at night because they felt it was unsafe.
"Cameras act as a deterrent, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, and they give people confidence to 90 out because they know they could be being watched. "It then has a knock-on effect - the more people who come into the city at night, the safer they will feel and the fear of crime will be reduced further.
"And it will all benefit the economy of the city centre from shops to clubs." But she is the first to stress the new system is no use in isolation.
"We are not saying it's a panacea to cure all crime," she said.
"It has to be used as part of a package of initiatives including better street lighting, high profile policing, secure car parks and communication if it is going to be effective.
"The Government grant is absolutely fantastic news - it's something we have all been waiting for with bated breathe because it does have a very positive impact in the city
"We want to see a package of measures developing in the city centre to make it a better place."
The existing CCTV cameras in city car parks are old and the system - opened in 1990 by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - is obsolete, so part of the money will go towards up-dating them and the system itself.
Keighley currently has a radio link Shop Watch system working alongside its CCTV cameras so that police, retailers and the control room can keep in constant contact. Details of incidents or individuals spotted on cameras are immediately sent out by radio to everyone taking part in the scheme.
"The likelihood is the whole of our system will have a radio link as well," she said.
"The police, the council and retailers in the city centre already communicate well together, giving each other key information - making them aware of what the crime situation is and of any individuals shopkeepers need to keep an eye out for.
"Once the new system is up and running it will make them even more efficient." Bradford currently has 36 cameras in car parks - but none on the streets apart from one covering the Jacobs Well subway.
Now the Government has guaranteed the cash, this will all change.
The general consensus of opinion is that by Spring next year there will be 24 cameras up and running at key locations in the city centre feeding images through fibre optic cable back to a central monitoring and control room in Britannia House. From there a minimum of three specially-trained operators will watch a bank of 30 plus colour monitors receiving pictures from Bradford and from existing CCTV cameras in Keighley, Bingley and Shipley.
They will also be able to relay pictures to a screen in the police area control room at Bradford central police station
"It really will be a state-of the-art system," Ms Gandhi said.
One criticism often voiced is that CCTV cameras merely drive villains to a nearby area which hasn't got them.
But that is a view which is not backed up by hard facts, she said.
"With any crime prevention initiative you are always going to get a small displacement of crime - if one person fits a burglar alarm to their house the likelihood is the ones next door which don't have one could be burgled.
"But there is no evidence to suggest you get 100 per cent displacement - in fact the Home Office figures say you may only get a two per cent displacement.
"But we are not relying entirely on CCTV and we are not just focusing on one area.
"We are looking at tackling crime throughout the district using a number of different initiatives."
Coun John Rudding said: "The biggest benefactor is the general public. We want to attract people to the city centre and for them to feel safe when they come shopping here. We found cameras were overwhelmingly the one thing that makes people feel safe."
And butcher Donald Pickup, who sits on the steering group at Rawson Market, said: "I welcome this new move, I wish they could install more cameras.
"The more cameras there are, the more people feel safer."
Video footage from Keighley's hi-tech CCTV network proved to be a vital clue in helping police solve a mysterious death.
Stuart Lister was caught on camera leaving a nightclub In the town centre In May last year. Within half-an-hour the 18-year-old was found unconscious with serious head injuries lying In the road, half a mile away from his home in Steeton.
The teenager died four days later in Leeds General Infirmary.
After repeated appeals for information and a painstaking search of hours of CCTV footage, officers were able to pinpoint Stuart's last movements.
Inspector Mick Hopwood of Keighley Police, said: "The CCTV tapes proved crucial in solving the mystery.
"The video footage showed him going to a taxi rank and, from there, we were able to piece together what happened."
An inquest in November heard the teenager was travelling in a taxi when he left the vehicle "by whatever means while it was moving." Police believe he fell out of the taxi while it was travelling through Steeton.
The seven monitors at the Bradford Council control centre in Jacobs Well flicker continuously
Images change every few seconds as one after another of the city's 36 CCTV cameras screen their silent patrols of car parks, lifts and public areas. Occasionally a radio crackles and one of the two control room operators reaches for a handset to respond to a request from car park staff to zoom in on a particular area. The cameras pan left to right, up and down, as the operators home in on vehicles and people.
A man walks slowly across one outdoor car park smoking a cigarette, unaware the camera has zoomed in so close you can almost read the writing on his jacket.
In fact - on a good day - the operators can even read details on a car's tax disc.
The Jacobs Well subway flashes up - a man walking directly towards the camera then moving off-screen to the right.
A couple manoeuvre a pushchair out of a car park lift, a white van with three people in it sits in a contract-only car park which has been the overnight stop for families in the past - the scenes are varied and ever-changing.
The fur-time civilian operators have seen it all - from the man who occasionally drops his trousers and moons at the camera to the elderly couple who regularly get into a clinch in a car park lift.
Then they have watched the car thief at work - immediately contacting the police as they turn the camera on the villain. "That's when the adrenaline starts to flow," one of them says.
"Several times the police have got there fast and caught the bloke sitting in the car"
In one day the operators watch thousands upon thousands of cars and hundreds of people -most of them going about their lawful business.
But they are not interested in them - it's the villains they are after.
Mention CCTV to many people and they immediately think of the phrase Big Brother - the State keeping tabs on its subjects, monitoring their every move.
Bradford's One in Twelve Club has already described the planned introduction of CCTV throughout the city centre as a "massive increase in surveillance" which is "part of a process of social control".
It's a view which Bradford Council and the Home Office alike are keenly aware of
But Colin Clayton, the council's car parks and CCTV manager, says the existence of cameras at key sites in the city centre has nothing to do with state control.
Part of the bid for the Government money included submitting a code of conduct which the council would follow in relation to civil liberties.
And the new control room will be liable to unannounced visits by independent overseers appointed to make sure the system is not abused.
"We don't have a secret agenda," Mr Clayton said.
"We are not going to run any secret campaigns and there will be no covert operations.
"Everything will be completely open as it is now and we will have open days so people can look round the new control room and see it in action."
The system running in Keighley is computer controlled and can be programmed to turn off the monitors if the camera passes the window of a private house.
That will happen in Bradford too - and individuals who fear their privacy may be invaded by the cameras will be invited to go along and talk about it.
"The Home Office wants to make sure there is no abuse of civil liberties and so do we," Mr Clayton said.
As well as helping to reduce crime by deterring criminals and catching them red-handed, state-of-the art CCTV cameras are being used across the district to tackle the fear factor.
There are 13 colour surveillance cameras in Keighley town centre, six in Bingley and five in Shipley. The cameras - costing between £16 000 and £18,000 each and installed in the last four years are linked to a central control room in Keighley.
Sergeant Allen Gee, of Keighley Police, said: "The cameras have been of great help and assistance to us on a number of occasions. "As well as zooming in on criminals and catching them in the act, we're able to view the video tapes retrospectively and identify suspects."
Critics of CCTV say the cameras have only served in displacing crime to other areas not covered by surveillance
But Sergeant Gee believes the technology is a vital tool if police are to win the fight against crime in town and city centres.
"We deal with public disorder, assaults, vandalism and alcohol related incidents.
"Those kinds of crimes will always be specific to town or city centres and it is something we have to tackle.
"The cameras also play a vital part in reducing the fear of crime. People can visit town and city centres knowing the cameras are making the district a safer place." Shipley Town Centre beat manager PC Brian Watson agrees. "We've had a positive feedback from members of the public and town centre businesses who see the cameras as a great deterrent," he said.
"CCTV has had a major impact in Shipley. A couple of years ago we had a major problem with vandalism. Not a weekend went by without a pane of glass being put through.
"The surveillance cameras had an instant effect and the problem stopped. As well as deterring crirninals and catching them on the spot, officers can use footage to help them with their inquiries after the event.
"About eight months ago we had problems with public disorder outside a town centre pub. We were able to view the CCTV videotapes in Keighley at a later date and pick out the culprits.
"it's a state-of-the-art system which 1 am sure will prove of great benefit to Bradford city centre."
Skipton town centre bosses are celebrating after being given £128,000 for a CCTV system. The money will go towards a £168,000 scheme to provide seven cameras covering the centre and the town's car parks.
The remainder of the cash has come from local finance.
Craven District Council's community services committee chairman Councillor Ken Luty said: "This is great news - at last Skipton will have the system it deserves."
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