As part of a Home Office fund of £20m for police forces in England and Wales to bid for projects, Cumbria has gained £539,000 for county-wide CCTV. The Government’s 2013/2014 Precursor Police Innovation Fund largely featured bids for IT, forensics, joined-up working with the fire service or body-worn video.
The Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria Richard Rhodes said ” I am delighted that the scheme, which is a joint project between the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Cumbria Constabulary and the six District Councils of Eden, Carlisle, Allerdale, Copeland, South Lakeland and Barrow, has been given the go ahead. I am always keen to work in partnership with other public and private sector partners, and this scheme will deliver benefits to the local councils and savings for the police and wider Criminal Justice System by faster working and sharing of information.
“Through our bid we were able to demonstrate that our scheme would meet the essential criteria of the bids, in that it would help transform policing through innovation, improve collaboration and deliver savings. This success just shows what we can achieve for Cumbria when partners work together.”
The proposal is in the PCC’s words to deliver for Cumbria a sustainable countywide CCTV system monitored from a central control room at Cumbria Police headquarters in Penrith. The system will allow the police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to have the largest coverage geographically CCTV system in the UK. It will also be of assistance in securing convictions for things such as anti-social behaviour on streets.
The final decision on CCTV will be made at the Executive Board on February 5 by Police and Crime Commissioner, Richard Rhodes. The PCC statement did not speak of the current public space CCTV control rooms around the county. In his annual report for 2012-13, which came out in July, Mr Rhodes said that ‘CCTV was at risk of being switched off across the county’ and he worked with the county’s six district councils and police on an audit of equipment and plans for a central system. The PCC hopes for economies of scale from central procurement and standard equipment and maintenance.
The six are Carlisle; Barrow; Eden; Allerdale; Copeland and South Lakeland, which has 12 cameras in Kendal town centre and nine in Ulverston, monitored by Barrow and linked to Cumbria Police’s Call Handling and Dispatch Centre (CHAD) in Penrith.
In Barrow for example the budget for CCTV was cut from £142,550 in 2011-12 to £120,000 in 2012-13. Barrow said that its CCTV would have ended in March 2011 without extra funding from central Government. Eden district based in Penrith does not have fixed CCTV. Workington-based Allerdale Borough Council ceased monitoring of its CCTV in 2012.
Deputy Chief Constable Jeremy Graham said: “This is a great step forward in the process for providing consistent and improved CCTV coverage across Cumbria. We are working closely with the Police and Crime Commissioner and local councils to ensure we can deliver the best CCTV system possible, once the project has had final approval. CCTV is a very valuable tool for helping us to solve crime and keep our communities safe. CCTV can help us track offenders, gather evidence and act as a deterrent for would-be criminals and I am excited at the prospect of a new and improved system across the county.”
Pictured: a Lake District scene outside Keswick.
