Alan visits CCTV Control Centre

18th July 2008

Alan Whitehead today visited the main CCTV Control Centre in Southampton to see first-hand the valuable role CCTV can play in combating crime.

Dr Whitehead was invited to view the control centre after submitting an enquiry to Southampton’s City Safety Team on the impact of CCTV on Southampton’s crime rate.

Their records show that over 100 arrests a month are made due to evidence secured by CCTV.  Since the introduction of CCTV in city centre multi-storey car parks, crime there has also been reduced to virtually nil.

Dr Whitehead said:

“There is no doubt that CCTV is vital in the fight against crime, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.  This helps protect all our freedoms, despite what some have recently argued.

“Over 1000 arrests were made in Southampton last year thanks to CCTV evidence. CCTV images helped identify the London bombers of July 2005 and helped convict the Brixton nail bomber.”

What do you think about this story? Email Alan

More information

  1. Arrests by month in 2007 using CCTV evidence (Southampton):

Month

Number of arrests

January

99

February

93

March

103

April

121

May

119

June

122

July

141

August

91

September

105

October

68

November

143

December

119

TOTAL

1324

Back to top

Quick Links

Images

cctv

Visiting the CCTV Control Centre