Talking CCTV cameras 'a vital tool against crime' says Humberside police

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Talking CCTV cameras have been given the thumbs-up by Bridlington police and community safety officials after a review of their impact since installation in July last year.

Six of Bridlington's network of 32 CCTV cameras were fitted with loudspeakers in July as part of a pilot scheme to target a range of offences, from violence to criminal damage and litter dropping.

Police and community safety officials say they have proved a success as council chiefs prepare to consider a report into their effectiveness. Insp Steve Jackson of Humberside Police, head of neighbourhood policing in Bridlington, said: "We have had a very successful CCTV system in Bridlington for 10 years and it's another tool that bolts onto that.

"One example is that one night they picked up a group of lads pushing each other against windows and after they were spoken to the lads stopped. They started again but by then a couple of police officers had got there and dealt with them. We could have had one of the lads pushed through a window.

"It gives us a bit of time to get officers down to an incident like that. It's not something we use every minute of the day, but when it is used it's used to good effect and I certainly wouldn't be without it."

He said: "You can say people have come a bit blasé about CCTV cameras, almost forgetting they are there. But if a camera talks to someone when they step out of line you can see they are surprised. There's the embarrassment factor as well. If you ask someone to pick up litter and go and put it in a bin, everyone else in the street has heard it as well. We are quite confident it is helping to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour."

Max Hough, crime and disorder reduction manager at East Riding Council, said the cameras were effective, although it was hard to evaluate their exact impact. "The thing to remember about talking CCTV cameras is it doesn't operate in isolation. They are one part of what we are doing. The difficult thing to do is to attribute one intervention or aspect of that on crime reduction, but it's certainly helped. Overall my impression is that it has been a success."

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