Safety Council

Reports on the workings of CCTV Control Rooms are normally of two types. One will extol the virtues of the system, and discuss benefits such as ‘reduced fear of crime’ in addition to several other vague matters. The second type of report which, more often than not, is prepared by academic sources explores the workings of CCTV in ‘tightly focused situations’.

Neither kind of report, however, attempts to explore the work that is carried out by the staff within CCTV Control Rooms concentrating on public space monitoring.

Until recently, the focus has nearly always been on the crime reduction outcomes of public space CCTV. Nonetheless, it’s vitally important we look beyond this debate and begin to concentrate on what’s actually being achieved by the application of this technology.

That was the premise of a research project assessing public space surveillance CCTV Control Rooms over an 18-month period. 11 systems were examined and 60 individuals interviewed. What follows are the conclusions...

Put simply, CCTV cameras cannot stop crime. They can only observe and record. This fact is usually ignored, with claims regularly being made that surveillance cameras bring greater security. Any crime reduction claims are virtually impossible to substantiate, though, with such a focus yielding a restrictive analysis of the services provided by a public space surveillance CCTV system. Some studies have noted that certain types of crime such as burglary, vehicle theft and shoplifting have actually been reduced on occasion. Others show that CCTV can be a useful tool when it comes to combating vandalism.

That said, the results of this most recent study suggest that CCTV doesn’t reduce crime.

On that basis, why do we need it? In truth, both the use and purpose of CCTV has changed significantly. It’s no longer correct to regard it as a crime prevention measure. The financing of town centre CCTV systems is a constant problem. It’s always important to find out what is being achieved with this expenditure.

The latest research project examined the changing nature of public space CCTV and identified the many activities and services that have now been developed by Control Room managers. A simple question was posed: “What services does public space CCTV provide?” In truth, it performs a surprisingly wide range of community safety-oriented functions. Not surprisingly, the survey showed that crime reduction has receded as a frontline task for public space CCTV. Bus lane and traffic monitoring are but two of the attractive additions CCTV can bring to local Councils.

Quality of life incidents

Public space CCTV no longer operates exclusively in support of the police and, as mentioned, the research has identified a wide range of crime prevention and community safety activities.

One of the main changes in terms of operational activity entails a greater involvement in quality of life matters. Matters such as evictions, tenancy disputes and fly-tipping are now tackled by the application of CCTV, all of them assisted by the rapid evolution of mobile surveillance equipment.

These changes accompanied the National Reassurance Policing Project. This major project aimed to combat the low level incivilities and quality of life incidents that cause distress to many. Reassurance policing is defined as ‘using community-focused policing to target visible crime and disorder in order to make neighbourhoods more secure’.

As a result of these developments, CCTV Control Room teams concentrating on public space monitoring have responded by developing services that cover three broad areas of activity. First, central alarm stations for the local Council and other public premises. Second, an out-of-hours contact centre serving local Council and public emergencies. Third in one notable case an information provider for many community safety schemes.

Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs) In South Lanarkshire, the Control Room is part of a 24-hour Call Centre handling social alarms, out-of-hours housing repairs, lone workers and calls from sheltered housing (see panel ‘South Lanarkshire CCTV: tackling street crime’). The CCTV systems from four local towns as well as Council road depots and local schools are also monitored. Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council has set up its own in-house security company to manage all public space CCTV and fire, intruder and personal attack alarm monitoring in all Council premises.

The public space surveillance Control Room in Coventry monitors the City Council’s 100-plus CCTV cameras, in addition to handling all social alarms and intruder alarms for Council and private properties. This scenario is repeated at the North East Lincolnshire Control Room, where calls are also handled for emergency repairs to Council properties. It also monitors an internal camera system that covers every public service point.

The Croydon Borough Council Control Room operates as the first key holder for Council property, and has established Service Level Agreements with Council-managed schools for this activity. More than 500 public buildings have their fire, intruder and security alarms monitored by Sunderland’s Control Room staff. They also provide an out-of-hours emergency reporting centre for faults spotted on the highways, building repairs and Environment Agency flood alerts. It also serves as the Council’s emergency Control Room, implementing major disaster contingency plans as and when required.

Meantime, the South Ayrshire Monitoring Station (SAMS) runs a 126-camera system covering five local towns. Its staff also monitor community alarms and respond to out-of-hours emergency housing repair requests. SAMS is responsible for CCTV systems at National Health Service (NHS) sites, intruder alarms, fire alarms and personal duress alarms.

All of these activities stem directly from the theme of community safety the SAMS is a major partner in the South Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership. This involvement has led to the SAMS undertaking lone worker monitoring for the council and the NHS, in addition to acting as the out-of-hours Control Centre for on-call doctors from the NHS Triage Centre. Police Community Support Officers are also linked to SAMS and, from there, to the divisional police headquarters.

A similar variety of services is provided from the East Renfrewshire Council CCTV Control Room, itself operating as an out-of-hours contact point for many community safety-related services. This enables the Council to deliver these services on a 24-hour basis. The list of tasks includes the monitoring of property alarms both fire and intruder as well as security in schools and responding to accommodation requests from homeless persons and vulnerable young people.

The CCTV Control Room has proven to be the ideal location for the Council’s lone worker monitoring project. It offers radio and mobile phone contact in addition to CCTV coverage, and all members of staff are fully-trained. There is also a direct link to the Council’s own Community Wardens.

Community safety issues

Many areas of public housing experience a high volume of low level crime such as vandalism and graffiti particularly those estates where high-rise housing is prevalent.

The 1996 Housing Act empowered local authorities and housing associations to deal with anti-social tenants and, hardly surprisingly, public space-focused CCTV operations have found a regular role here. In one instance namely at the Stevenage Control Room there is a formal liaison procedure in place between the Control Room operators and the ASBO officers working on behalf of the Borough Council.

However, perhaps the most striking example of the changing nature of public space CCTV has been observed in Glasgow, where the Blochairn Control Room can accommodate up to 500 monitoring screens. The system is now fully-integrated with many organisations as an important element in helping to deliver tangible results in relation to the city’s Community Safety Programme 2007.

Following a Best Value Review by Glasgow City Council in 2001, all seven public space CCTV systems within the city were centralised to form the Streetwatch Glasgow system. Under this programme of public space surveillance, more than 250 cameras are now operational city wide and cover three police divisions.

The City Council formed a Community Safety Partnership to address a range of issues that have a negative effect on the community, including the crime of vandalism in public places. CCTV was recognised as being able to play a significant role in this strategy, and the Community Safety Plan includes the development of public space CCTV.

Streetwatch is now a partner agency, providing a community information service for the other community safety agencies. As a consequence, Streetwatch has an extensive involvement with a wide range of programmes. For instance, public Help Points are installed in the city centre and in public parks. When a call is received, the nearest camera is turned to monitor the Help Point area and then appropriate action can be taken to deal with the incident as it progresses.

The Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) uses Streetwatch to assist with its neighbourhood relations strategy, and to deal with various forms of anti-social behaviour. Although GHA operates more than 3,000 cameras across its property portfolio, these are all internal. Streetwatch provides coverage of the external areas, while GHA makes over 200 information requests on an annual basis.

The Glasgow City Council Anti-Graffiti Team receives more than 400 graffiti reports each month from Streetwatch. This forms over 50% of the number of such reports. Indeed, there are now two Anti-Graffiti Teams devoted to working with Streetwatch-based information.

Security and fire as one

Streetwatch works alongside Strathclyde Fire Brigade. At major incidents, a liaison officer is stationed in the CCTV Control Room to serve as a direct link with the Fire Brigade Operations Centre. Streetwatch provides recordings that can be used for fire crew training and debriefing. This strong liaison extends to Streetwatch monitoring a list of fire hydrant ‘hot spots’ provided by the fire service during periods of high temperatures. These hydrants are often vandalised, but Streetwatch staff are able to inform both the Fire Brigade and Scottish Water immediately when a given incident is in its infancy.

The monitoring of bus shelter vandalism is a further activity that has been included in Streetwatch’s community safety portfolio. Strathclyde Passenger Transport had made plans to install its own CCTV system, but Streetwatch managers devised a monitoring system that enables such damage to be reported to the police at the outset.

Vandalism of their vehicles is a constant problem for bus operators in many towns and cities. Although on-board CCTV systems assist in the identification of culprits, external assaults have inflicted thousands of window breakages for First Bus’ vehicles. The company then joined forces with Streetwatch to monitor bus garage access points and ‘hot spot’ bus stops at school home times, thus helping to reduce the problem.

A similar project has been implemented for Glasgow’s licensed taxi drivers. They enjoy a direct mobile telephone link to the Control Room. Cameras are able to monitor offenders when an incident is taking place and during its aftermath. This information is then passed on to the police for criminal prosecution purposes.

One of the most interesting community safety projects that Streetwatch supports is the River Clyde Safety Programme. This involves the Control Room operators observing illegal activities such as fly-tipping and debris being discarded in local rivers. Such information can then be passed on to Glasgow City Council. The Control Room operators have also been trained to recognise the tell-tale signs that accompany potential suicides who may be contemplating throwing themselves into the River Clyde. Once this situation arises, the Streetwatch Control Room operators alert the emergency services.

During the first 12 months of this surveillance detail being in operation, 16 potential suicides were prevented.

Crime reduction environment

It’s now blatantly obvious that public space CCTV forms an integral part of a package of crime reduction and community safety measures. As such, CCTV Control Room managers have redesigned their activities and services to meet the changing crime reduction environment and community safety agenda.

This means that some Control Rooms have, almost by default, developed into Council central monitoring stations.

Community safety has definitely moved to the top of the agenda. If we are to extend the capabilities of CCTV still further, all we need is the willingness to be flexible and use our imagination.