Shipley CCTV system flops

April 19, 2000

A long delayed report on the effectiveness of the public CCTV system in Shipley shows conclusively that the scheme has failed to make any impact on crime figures.

The spy-camera system went live in June 1998, with the target of reducing crime in the town centre by 20% in the first year of operation.

Figures published in the report show that crime actually increased by 20%.

There was a 200% increase in "theft from the person", a 50% increase in "theft from cars" and a 23% increase in "robbery".

In fact, of nine different categories of crime measured, only three showed a small drop. This marks the first increase in crime in Shipley town centre for 6 years.

The figures also compare unfavourably with those for the region as a whole,

"Shipley CCTV system - an evaluation", produced by private Security consultants Inter-Force Assistance of Salford, tries hard to put a positive spin on the results by highlighting the fact that they were better than results in Pudsey, which had been selected as a "control". The figures for Pudsey are highly erratic, with recorded crime rising by 80% in the year following June 1998.

Using this comparison the report claims: "From an overall point of view, therefore, it would appear that crime has reduced and in some cases, reduced in comparison to the control sample that does not have CCTV fitted, as well as generating more arrests".

The report says that Pudsey town centre was chosen as a "control" because it is "a town similar to Shipley but which has not had the benefit of a CCTV system". The population size is about the same, but there the similarity ends. Indeed, its use as a control should have been rejected because there exists no correlation between the crime trends for the 2 towns before June 1998 and the introduction of CCTV in Shipley. The region as a whole would have given a better comparison of crime trends.

The report goes on to say that a survey in Shipley centre, designed to measure the publics "fear of crime", showed that half  the respondents felt that CCTV had "impacted positively upon their concerns about crime". The survey gauged the views of just 24 people and was based on an earlier, discredited survey.

Shipley Town Centre manager Bob Parker noted "The crime statistic analysis in the evaluation has produced widely varying results and it is difficult to draw a firm conclusion from these." His recommendation that "the Area Panel recognises the Shipley CCTV system as a valuable tool in fighting crime and the fear of crime, and supports the future expansion of the system" was approved by local councillors today.

See the report "Shipley CCTV system - an evaluation"

See also main CCTV feature

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