CCTV cameras could be switched off (From Gazette & Herald)

CCTV cameras could be switched off

CCTV security cameras in Ryedale towns could be turned off.

It's one of the options under investigation by Ryedale District Council (RDC), which is currently assessing a crisis in the security system. North Yorkshire Police have said they are to cease paying for the monitoring and running costs of CCTV and as a result local authorities will have to pay.

The cameras are sited in Pickering, Malton and Norton.

Members of RDC's overview and scrutiny committee were told that in addition to turning off the cameras permanently, other options include switching off the cameras for six months to assess their effectiveness or for RDC to provide the staff to have the cameras monitored in police stations.

In addition, committee chairman Coun Debbie Aubrook said the equipment could be switched from police headquarters to Ryedale House, or RDC could go into partnership with Scarborough Council to run the system.

She added that members of Malton and Norton Chamber of Trade had been asked for their reaction to a suggestion that businesses might contribute towards the costs. They had replied that while 20pc might, the remaining 80pc would not, even though CCTV is considered to be security for traders.

The costs of the options range from a one-off payment of £5,000 to decommission the cameras altogether, to around £85,000 to go into partnership with Scarborough Borough Council and re-house the monitoring equipment in a specially designed building.

Coun John Raper felt that switching off the cameras "might not be a bad thing" because the police were already so overstretched that they had difficulty in answering calls to incidents.

Couns Allin Jenkins and Stephen Shaw said that insurance premiums for businesses could rise if the cameras ceased to operate.

Coun Aubrook said she and other representatives of RDC had met sixth form students at Malton and Pickering to discuss the benefits of CCTV to see if the system helped reduce crime and promote community safety.

"Their perceived wisdom was that they are not monitored," she said. Out of ten students interviewed in Pickering, only three knew where the cameras were situated, and they did not believe they made them feel safer.

The students had questioned whether they were needed in Pickering but added that discontinuing the system could put a police officer back on the beat which they would welcome.

Coun Aubrook said the fact that Ryedale had such a good crime record - the number of incidents had dropped from 340 to 177 in recent years - probably triggered their view that they were not necessary.

However, she was concerned at reports of children as young as seven causing trouble. "They even play to the cameras laying in the middle of the road waving their arms."

Coun Pamela Anderson said she understood that police were being switched from Ryedale to York because of the city's high crime figures.

The committee agreed it would discuss a draft report on CCTV at its meeting in August which will detail the responses from the public.

A public meeting on the CCTV issue was held at Malton last week and another was to be held at Pickering Memorial Hall last night (Wednesday).

Updated: 10:45 Thursday, June 27, 2002