CCTV is an increasingly important weapon in combating crime and disorder and in particular in the management of the night time economy.
This is particular true at a time of financial pressure on police resources and of areas not patrolled by bid rangers. The CCTV system and its associated communications networks are key to the effective and rapid deployment of limited numbers of enforcement officers and the gathering of evidence.
The recent review of the Blue Rooms (now Zero Zero) licence demonstrated the effectiveness of CCTV in proving links between drunken disorder and particular premises something which is notoriously hard to do by any other means.
We are actively campaigning for ongoing investment in the CCTV network in Bath city centre both to improve coverage and ensure high quality imaging and tracking. CCTV is however only effective if control rooms are adequately manned and so we are also concerned about BANES funding the availability of suitably trained operators.
We are also campaigning for greater involvement of residents in decisions about where CCTV is deployed both to improve the impact on crime and disorder but also to allow resident’s to express concerns about privacy issues that might arise at particularly sensitive sites..