The Committee is asked to consider the public space CCTV report.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities, Head of Housing, Economy and Community Services and the Safer and Stronger Communities Officer have been invited to attend for this item.

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities, the Head of Housing, Economy and Community Services and the Safer and Stronger Communities Officer to the meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities introduced the report which set out the early stages of a public space CCTV Strategy for Swale.  He explained that the current public space CCTV was old and not fit for purpose.  Also new legislation meant that the way in which it could be used and the justifications for its use had changed.  The Cabinet Member spoke about changes and improvements in technology and considered the proposed strategy gave a clear view on where Swale was going in terms of CCTV provision.

The Head of Housing, Economy and Community Services advised that as well as improvements in technology, it was important to consider the changes in human behaviour in respect of CCTV and also privately run CCTV.  She stated that the review was important to assess the future of CCTV in Swale.

Members considered the report and raised points which included:

·        Welcomed provision of wi-fi in town centres across the Borough;

·        mobile units were a good idea, especially for resolving anti-social behaviour (ASB) issues;

·        noted the fall in operational incidents logged which showed the current CCTV system was failing and did not provide evidence;

·        concerns that ASB might increase in certain areas if CCTV removed;

·        CCTV has been used by the Police to find vulnerable elderly people suffering from dementia and also solve major crime, if there were less cameras these types of incidents would be harder to resolve.  Reducing the number of cameras would have a detrimental knock-on effect;

·        Eastchurch Parish Council had experienced operational problems with the current CCTV set-up and had pulled-out.  Since then they had not experienced any issues without having CCTV;

·        wi-fi was definitely the way forward;

·        mobile cameras were particularly useful for combating fly-tipping;

·        considered the Police should fund CCTV not the Council;

·        technology was so advanced that less people were required to work the systems.  That should bring costs down and should be included in the Strategy;

·        how much would it cost to modernise?;

·        areas of public access needed CCTV, especially at night to ensure people felt safe;

·        the Council’s street lighting policy needed to be considered in conjunction with this Strategy;

·        Spring Street, Sittingbourne was very dark and people felt vulnerable in this public space;

·        needed to ensure those in rural areas would be able to access the mobile CCTV;

·        the Council should not rely on people using their mobile phones etc. to provide evidence;

·        need to liaise with providers to ensure broadband in rural areas was available; and

·        CCTV did not just assist the Police, the Council also benefited from CCTV particularly in relation to licensing.

In response to queries, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities drew attention to item 4 on page 7 of the Strategy which outlined that one of the purposes of the second generation public space CCTV systems was to support the most vulnerable members of the community.  The Council currently had a number of mobile cameras.  He spoke about how human attitudes towards CCTV had changed and also how the Police priorities and working practices had changed.  The Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities stated that the Police Crime Commissioner had made it clear that they would not pay for the CCTV.

A Visiting Member queried the number of officers monitoring the CCTV at Medway as he had previously visited the unit and believed that it was three or four.  He considered the graph on page six of the report outlining the incidents logged to-date was inaccurate as there were now less cameras so the number of incidents would reduce.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities stated that the cameras which had been removed had been so because there were no incidents logged.  The Head of Housing, Economy and Community Services confirmed that since 2012 there was only one operator at a time monitoring all of Swale’s CCTV cameras.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities thanked Members for their suggestions.  He stated that following the consultation they would bring the Strategy back to the Committee for their consideration later in the year.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities, the Head of Housing, Economy and Communities and the Safer and Stronger Communities Officer for attending the meeting.