City centre - closed circuit television - CCTV

 

When it was first installed in March 1997, 45 cameras kept a watchful eye on the city centre and council-run car parks. Now, there are 129 cameras operating around the clock, seven days a week, with coverage extended to include the city's townships, local community shopping areas, residential and business districts, and a host of public buildings.

 

Video tape has been ditched in favour of digital recording and the eagle-eyed operators now have direct radio links with police. Live images can be beamed to Cambridgeshire Constabulary and operators are have established excellent two-way radio communication links with the Police, Retail, Business and Licensing trades, Street Wardens and Parking Attendants ensuring appropriate responses are made to the images captured.

 

The system's effectiveness was demonstrated within days of going live when CCTV operators were able to locate and direct police to a man who was responsible for an armed robbery at a city centre building society.

 

Peterborough was the first local authority CCTV system in the country to have a police liaison officer work within its control room. This extended to include networked computer links to enable the officer to carry out the CCTV investigation of reported crimes and incidents, provide control room staff with daily crime trends, and details of wanted and missing people. In addition, it allowed items of intelligence captured via CCTV to be directly recorded onto the police intelligence systems.

 

Chief Inspector Steve Lodge said: "CCTV is a vital and extremely successful crime prevention and crime fighting tool. Cameras act as an effective deterrent and their ability to capture crime in action allows us to present compelling evidence for prosecution.

 

"We will continue to work closely with the council's CCTV operators to build on the success seen over the past 10 years."

 

Recorded images are retained for one month and are essential for post incident investigation by police. However, other agencies such as HM Revenue and Customs, as well as council departments with enforcement responsibilities, see CCTV as a vital tool.

 

"Residents can be in no doubt that the CCTV system has made the city's streets safer over the past 10 years," said Councillor Graham Murphy, Cabinet member for Environment and Community Safety at the city council.