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CCTV Control Centre In Loughborough
Posted on 05/12/2007
P. Klein
A new communication centre which aims to help reduce the fear of crime and disorder in Charnwood has been given the green light by Councillors.
Members of Charnwood Borough Councils Cabinet have agreed to put £190,000 towards the project to relocate the CCTV control room from Loughborough Police Station to the Authoritys Contact Centre.
The change will enable 24-hour monitoring of the 39 CCTV cameras in Loughborough. It is planned that this will commence from March 2008. Emergency calls to the Council for other matters will also be handled around the clock.
Councillors also agreed to carry out CCTV monitoring on behalf of Birstall Parish Council for an out of hours monitoring service, supplementing their existing service during the day.
However the costs of running the system may be of concern in the future. It is anticipated that the costs of manning the system 24/7 will be £125k per year. At the moment the Police are providing £25k per year towards this but this is soon to be stopped. To prevent a deficit it is planned that the Crime and Disorder Partnership will contribute about £24k per year towards the system and that the council sells contracted monitoring. However the Council has identified that this is high risk item and the business plan for the system requires more work. Cllr David Snartt, Charnwood Borough Councils Cabinet member for Community Safety, said: "This is an important step in our fight against crime and disorder and we are working in close partnership with the police to improve community safety across the Borough.
"The agreement with Birstall Parish Council to monitor their cameras ensures its not just Loughborough residents that get the benefits of this state-of-the-art centre but also other towns and villages in the Borough.
Peter Hinton, Charnwood Borough Councils Head of Community Safety, said: "This is part of a process of expanding our services to the public for both wider public safety situations as well as making our streets and neighbourhoods safer places to enjoy.
Opponents of CCTV direct attention at the issue of the loss of privacy of the people under surveillance, and the negative implications of surveillance on civil liberties. Additionally, they state that CCTV displaces crime, rather than decreasing it. Critics frequently dub CCTV as "Big Brother surveillance", a reference to George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which had a two-way telescreen in every home through which The Party would keep an eye on the populace.
The current growth of CCTV in housing areas also raises grave issues concerning the level to which CCTV is being used as a social control measure rather than merely a disincentive to crime.
A 2007 report by the UKs Information Commissioner highlighted the requirement for the public to be made more conscious of the "creeping encroachment" into their civil liberties produced by the rising use of surveillance equipment. Previously Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, gave the warning that Britain was "sleepwalking into a surveillance society".